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Whitbread's a warm order in the crunch
Simon English08.12.08
Whitbread continues to be a credit-crunch winner as its Premier Inn budget hotels arm keeps luring tourists, and Costa Coffee stays frothy.
The group expects to create 7000 jobs next year, 3000 of them apprenticeships.
Chief executive Alan Parker is not claiming the business is recession-proof, but he has more reason to be upbeat than almost any head of a large UK company.
"The market is moving towards us in terms of our budget offering," he said. "We are also benefiting from the devaluing pound, something I expect to continue."
However, Whitbread will cut capital expenditure next year to £200 million from £300 million. In the 39 weeks to 27 November, like-for-like sales rose 8.5% at Premier Inn, 5.9% at the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants and 2.6% at Costa.
Businessmen trading down are a big factor in Premier's success.
