Whitbread H1 profits exceed pre-pandemic levels

Premier Inn parent company Whitbread said on Tuesday that interim profits had exceed pre-pandemic levels, leaving the group "significantly ahead" of the wider UK market.

Whitbread said first-half statutory revenues had surged 104% year-on-year to £1.35bn, helping the group swing from an interim statutory pre-tax loss of £19.3m to a profit of £307.4m. Adjusted pre-tax profits came to £271.9m, up from a loss of £56.6m in 2021.

The FTSE 100-listed firm also reported adjusted basic earnings per share of 107.0p, up from a loss of 26.4p per share a year earlier, and declared an interim dividend of 24.4p. Net debt widened from £60.2m to £182.1m.

Whitbread said a "declining independent sector" has increased its "growth potential" in the UK and Ireland to 125,000 rooms, and highlighted that in Germany, demand had recovered, with the group seeing "good trading momentum", making it "confident" in its ability to reach its long-term return on capital target of 10-14%.

Chief executive Alison Brittain said: "We delivered an outstanding trading performance in the first half of the year, with revenues and profit before tax above pre-pandemic levels. Our UK hotels traded well ahead of the market, benefiting from our 'investing to win' commercial and operational initiatives that are continuing to drive growth. We are making good progress in Germany and remain focused on realising our full potential in this large and exciting market.

"Despite macroeconomic uncertainties, our current trading performance is strong and our business has proven its resilience in previous downturns. With a robust balance sheet and significant growth potential in both the UK and Germany, we remain confident in the full-year outlook and our ability to deliver long-term value for all our stakeholders."

As of 0830 BST, Whitbread shares were down 2.07% at 2,557.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com