Whitbread to expand Premier Inn and Costa coffee chains

By Chris Wills

LONDON (Reuters) - Whitbread, owner of Britain's biggest hotel and coffee-shop chains, announced long-term plans to open hundreds more Premier Inn budget hotels and Costa coffee shops as it posted forecast-topping results on Monday.

Demand for frothy coffees and budget hotel rooms remained strong despite the credit crunch as like-for-like sales in the first two months of Whitbread's new financial year grew around 5.7 percent, the same as this time last year, Chief Executive Alan Parker told journalists on a conference call.

Whitbread (WTB.L) shares rose 4.3 percent to 1239p by 9:54 a.m. BST, making it one of the top gainers on the FTSE 100 .FTSE and valuing it around 2.19 billion pounds. The European Travel and Leisure index .SXTP was up 1 percent.

The Dunstable and Luton-based company plans to build at least 100 more Premier Inns next to its Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pub restaurants by 2013, and have 55,000 rooms worldwide.

Whitbread currently owns 518 Premier Inn hotels with 36,000 rooms, making it the largest hotel company in the UK.

With almost 1,000 Costa coffee shops around the world, including almost 700 in the UK, Whitbread wants to double that figure to 2,000, with half the new shops in the UK.

Pretax profits before exceptional items rose 26.3 percent to 210.3 million pounds for the year to February 28, topping a 208 million pound consensus from a Reuters poll of 18 analysts.

"Final results are strong, driven by strong like-for-like sales and expansion," says broker Panmure Gordon analyst Douglas Jack in a "buy" note which maintained forecasts.