Strong sales at Premier Inn and Costa Coffee push Whitbread sales up by 6.8%

Whitbread has reported a buoyant performance during the second quarter of the year with sales rising by 6.8%.

The operator of the UK's largest hotel and coffee chain brands said that Premier Inn's like-for-like sales increased 9.2% during the 11 weeks to 14 August, with special events such as the Commonwealth Games and the Farnborough Airshow helping to boost business.

Meanwhile, like-for like sales at Costa Coffee were up 7.3% and its restaurant division by 1.7%.

Whitbread has opened 758 Premier Inn rooms so far this year and has plans to launch a further 4,500 by the end of the year.

It has also opened 76 new Costa stores in the UK since the beginning of the year, with 300 stores and 600 Costa express units in total planned worldwide for 2014.