Tuesday preview: Whitbread to update on Q3 trading

10th Dec 2012 16:30

A third-quarter trading update from Costa and Premier Inn owner Whitbread is due on Tuesday morning, with the company expected to reveal the extent of the slowdown in like-for-like (LFL) sales growth that it guided to in October.At the company's interim results on October 23rd, in which it reported a 4.3% increase in LFL group sales, Whitbread said that post-Olympics, the London hotel market is "settling" and consumer markets remain "broadly flat".Chief Executive Andy Harrison said: "Against this background we expect to continue to outperform our competitors and LFL sales growth to be more moderate than the high levels achieved in the first half."Panmure Gordon expects LFL sales at Premier Inn and Restaurants to be up around 2%, while the broker predicts that Costa may have received a boost in recent weeks from customers boycotting rival Starbucks.However, in a research report last week, Panmure said: "We remain cautious on current trading and the increasingly competitive environment in budget hotels and hence reiterate our 'hold' recommendation."INTERIMS Ashtead Group, Carpetright, International Greetings, Ishaan Real Estate INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS ZEW Survey (EU) (10:00) ZEW Survey (GER) (10:00) Q2 Ashtead Group GMS Baronsmead VCT, Baronsmead VCT 2, Baronsmead VCT 3 FINALS Domino Printing Sciences, Terrace Hill Group, Victrex, Zytronic IMSS Whitbread AGMS Billing Services Group Ltd., Edinburgh Dragon Trust, Tristel TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS ASOS, Go-Ahead Group, IG Group Holdings, Whitbread UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Balance of Trade (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Interior Services GroupBC