Whitbread Chairman hangs up his hat

22nd Jan 2014 07:09

Whitbread, owner of the Premier Inn, Beefeater and Costa chains, confirmed that Chairman Anthony Habgood will step down from the board later this year and the process to find a successor is underway.Habgood, who has been Whitbread's Chairman since mid 2005, said: "With the company having a strong board and a clear strategy for growth, I believe that this year is an appropriate time to hand over to a successor."He added that his time with the group has been, "...over a period of rapid growth as we have transformed Whitbread into a focused company and developed two market-leading brands, Premier Inn and Costa." In December, Whitbread reported total like-for-like sales (LFL) increase of 4.3% for the 13 weeks to November 28th. Total sales for the period increased 13.8% after a stellar performances from Premier Inn and Costa.CJ