Restaurant group Whitbread reported growth in like-for-like sales and total sales for the 13-weeks ended 28 November, aided by the strength of Costa coffee, Premier Inn as well as improved performance from restaurants.
Whitbread reported 13.8% rise in total group sales in the 13 weeks to 28 November. Same store sales at Costa rose 4.9%.
The chain opened 246 new Costa Coffee stores worldwide so far this year, including 133 in the UK.
For the 39 weeks that ended on 28 November, total sales climbed 13%, mainly due to the expansion of the Premier Inn and Costa networks. Premier Inn's total sales climbed 12.9%, while Costa's total sales increased 20.8%.
Whitbread said its restaurants business improved performance and outperformed its competitive set, with like-for-like sales growth of 1.8% in the quarter.
Coffee chain Costa reported like-for-like sales growth of 4.9% and total sales increase of 20.4% for the quarter.
For the 39-week period, Costa's total system sales climbed 19.4% to £882m.
Whitbread chief executive Andy Harrison said the chain has delivered another strong quarter, with total sales up 13.8% and like-for-like sales up 4.3%, driven by the strength of Premier Inn and Costa and an improved performance from restaurants.
"This keeps us on track to deliver full year results in line with expectations,'' Harrison added.
