Premier Inn owner Whitbread sales plummet but sees signs for optimism
Premier Inn owner Whitbread saw sales plummet in March, April and May this year but the company was upbeat the future.
Sales were down 80% over the period when coronavirus was at its peak and the UK and Europe were forced into lockdown.
The company now has over 270 hotels and 24 restaurants reopened in the UK with, while in Germany all 19 of its hotels are open.
Alison Brittain, chief executive Whitbread, was upbeat: "It is still very early days and therefore too early to draw any conclusions from our booking trajectory, especially as there has been volatility in hotel performance in other countries that relaxed controls before the UK.
"However, in traditional regional tourist destinations, we are seeing good demand for the summer months, whilst the rest of the regions and metropolitan areas, including London, remain subdued."
In June the company successfully got a £1 billion rights issue away which gave Whitbread some breathing space.
The company which sold its Costa Coffee business to Coca-Cola last year said the money would be used to fund opportunistic purchases of land for new hotels at bargain basement prices in the coming recessions in the UK and Germany.
Brittain added: "The successful completion of the £1 billion rights issue on 10 June will enable us to maintain our competitive advantage and financial flexibility, as we have both strengthened our balance sheet and secured the business so it can withstand a long period of low revenues.
"Our strong balance sheet, alongside both our leading operating model and the power of our brands, means that we are in the best possible position to take advantage of enhanced structural opportunities that we expect to become available in both the UK and Germany."
The years after the financial crisis, from 2008 to 2012, marked the strongest periods of growth for Premier Inn, again at a time when rivals were struggling.
It grew its room numbers by 28% in that period while the independent sector fell 12% in that period. Upscale hotels grew around 10% in the same years.
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