Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.11
    +1.76 (+2.16%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,254.80
    +42.10 (+1.90%)
     
  • DOW

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    56,134.06
    +1,258.49 (+2.29%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • NASDAQ Composite

    16,379.46
    -20.06 (-0.12%)
     
  • UK FTSE All Share

    4,338.05
    +12.12 (+0.28%)
     

Costa Coffee Sales Continue To Climb

The owner of the Costa coffee chain has seen its total sales rise by 17% in the three months to 27 November.

Whitbread (LSE: WTB.L - news) said in addition to total sales rising by almost a fifth, UK like-for-like revenue was up 5.2% in the quarter and 5.8% year-to-date.

The company added that it now remains confident of delivering full-year results in line with expectations, with chief executive Andy Harrison describing it as "strong trading momentum".

The owner of the Premier Inns said it also saw good growth in the hotel chain division, with total sales up by 15.4% and like-for-like up 8.5% in the quarter and 9.2% in the financial year.

ADVERTISEMENT

The chain has been conducting a heavy rotation advertising campaign for its hotels in recent months.

The revenue per available room metric was up 8.6% in the period and occupancy was up two percentage points, to almost 85%.

Costa has seen rapid growth in recent years, in part because of a backlash against key rival Starbucks, over the US multinational's tax arrangements.

Protests erupted at Starbucks outlets in 2012 after it was revealed that despite operating in Britain for more than a decade it rarely made a profit.

Costa has also expanded globally and now employs more than 10,000 in 29 countries, operating around 5,000 outlets of varying size.

The company continues to roast its beans in Lambeth, central London, in premises used for the last 40 years.

It has also expanded its self-service outlets rapidly across the UK and now has them fitted in more than 2,700 locations.

Whitbread said it still plans to open around 4,500 new Premier Inn rooms in the UK and some 230 net new Costa stores worldwide this financial year.