Whitbread hikes full-year dividend, beats profit forecasts

29th Apr 2014 07:23

- Underlying profits up 16.5 per cent, ahead of forecasts- Revenue up 13 per cent- Dividend hiked by nearly a fifthWhitbread, the FTSE 100 leisure and hospitality group, beat forecasts with strong annual growth across the board and hiked its dividend, adding that it has made a good start to the new year.The group, which owns Premier Inn, Costa and a number of restaurant and pub chains, reported an underlying profit before tax of £411.8m for the year to February 27th, up 16.5% year-on-year and ahead of the £398m consensus forecast.Total revenues were up 13% at £2.29bn, with like-for-like sales up 4.2%.The full-year dividend was lifted by 19.9% to 68.8p, up from 57.4p the year before.Meanwhile, net debt was reduced by £79.5m over the year to £391.6m."This is another set of good results. Once again strong cash flow funded the necessary capital investment for our growth engines, Premier Inn and Costa, to increase their share of the market," said Chairman Anthony Habgood.Premier Inn sales rose 13.4% during the period (LFL up 5%), while Costa sales rose 20.1% (LFL up 5.7%)Chief Executive Andy Harrison said Whitbread started the first two months of the new financial year "positively" with good trading bolstered by relatively soft comparatives, though these will become "tougher" in the second half."We remain on track to deliver our 2016 and 2018 growth milestones for both Premier Inn and Costa which, combined with our clear focus on returns, will create substantial shareholder value," he said.BC