Whitbread plans Indian hotel move

Whitbread will revamp its Premier Travel Inn brand to lift demand

Whitbread, the leisure company that owns brands including Costa Coffee, has said it plans to expand into India. Read original article

The company said it would invest £150m ($298m) over 10 years building about 80 Premier Travel Inns with 12,000 rooms as part of a joint venture.

Whitbread announced the plans as it unveiled an increase in revenues.

The company has been expanding its cafe and hotel businesses. This month, it agreed to sell its David Lloyd health and fitness chain for £925m.

'Remain confident'

The company has been selling a number of its holdings, including its TGI Friday restaurant and bar chain and a 50% stake in Pizza Hut, to help cut debt levels.

Whitbread said it would re-brand its Premier Travel Inns as Premier Inns and expand its room capacity by 3,000 in the UK and 50,000 worldwide.

It also wants to triple its Costa Coffee outlets over the next five years.

Whitbread said like-for-like sales rose 5.6% in the in the 13 weeks to 31 May. Premier Travel Inns saw a 10% rise and Costa added 4.7%, it said. "The ongoing businesses are performing very well," said Mark Brumby, an analyst at Blue Oar.

According to Reuters, Whitbread said it might return as much as £500m to shareholders following the sale of its David Lloyd chain.

"The board remains confident that the growth prospects for the group are good," the company said.