Whitbread Chairman Anthony Habgood to step down

LONDON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Whitbread (LSE: WTB.L - news) , the operator of Britain's biggest hotel and coffee chains Premier Inn and Costa Coffee, said on Wednesday its Chairman Anthony Habgood is to leave the firm this year.

Habgood, a former chief executive and chairman at business supplies distributor Bunzl (LSE: BNZL.L - news) , has been chairman of Whitbread since May 2005, during which time the group has grown rapidly, tapping into demand from cost-conscious customers for affordable hotels and a rising popularity for takeaway coffee.

The group is aiming to grow Premier Inn UK rooms by 45 percent to 75,000 by 2018, and double Costa (NasdaqGS: ATX - news) 's total sales to 2 billion pounds ($3.3 billion) through expansion at home and abroad, with a particular focus on China.

Whitbread said on Wednesday that Habgood would step down from the board later this year and that an announcement on his successor would be made in due course.

Shares in the group, which also runs pub restaurants such as Brewers Fayre, closed at 3,926 pence on Tuesday, up 58 percent on a year ago, valuing the business at 7.1 billion pounds.