EXCELLENT FIRST HALF RESULTS: STRONG PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE Whitbread PLC results for the six months ended 2 September 2010

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1 Whitbread PLC 19 October 2010 EXCELLENT FIRST HALF RESULTS: STRONG PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE Whitbread PLC results for the six months ended 2 September 2010 Financial Highlights Total revenue up 14.5% to million (2009/10: million) Group like for like sales up 7.8% Underlying profit 1 before tax of million up 28.4% (2009/10: million) Underlying diluted EPS up 29.5% to 61.27p (2009/10: 47.33p) Half year net debt at million (versus million at 4 March 2010) Group return on invested capital 2 increased to 13.1% (2009/10: 11.2%) Interim dividend up 16.6% to 11.25p (2009/10: 9.65p) Statutory Profit after tax and exceptional items million (2009/10: 73.1 million) Total basic EPS 66.29p (2009/10: 42.32p) Achievements Premier Inn grew like for like occupancy 9.2 ppts to 79.3% with revpar up 9.4% Revpar growth outperformed the budget sector by 5.7 ppts Secured pipeline of c.11,000 rooms will deliver 25% growth in the UK estate Restaurants, 7% more customers attracted through hotel occupancy and value strategy Costa operating profits up 55.6%. 34 consecutive quarters of like for like sales growth Costa opened 116 (net) new coffee shops bringing worldwide total to 1,716 Group operating margin 3 increased to 20.4% (2009/10: 18.6%) Anthony Habgood, Chairman of Whitbread PLC said: "This is an excellent set of results, demonstrating the success of our focused strategy and drive to meet the needs of our customers. The strong like for like and overall sales performances show how well we have positioned ourselves in challenging market conditions. This is Alan Parker s last set of Whitbread results before Andy Harrison, who joined on 1 st September, takes over as Chief Executive in November. Alan has made an invaluable contribution to the growth and development of Whitbread during his time as Chief Executive. Under his leadership Whitbread has grown to become the UK's leading hospitality company and is in good health, with strong prospects for the future." Alan Parker, Chief Executive of Whitbread PLC said: "These results are testimony to the success of our initiatives to increase market share through organic network expansion and attracting more customers to our hotels, restaurants and coffee shops. Our margins have improved as the benefits of both our structural and operating cost reduction programmes are realised. I am delighted that our return on invested capital has increased to 13.1%, well ahead of our cost of capital. Whitbread has performed strongly in both good times and during the recession and is well placed to grow in the current environment. While the economic outlook remains uncertain, we are confident in the outturn for the year. "Whitbread has strong foundations with a proven management team, who have a disciplined approach to growth, cost control and a relentless focus on our customers.

2 For further information contact: Whitbread Christopher Rogers, Group Finance Director + 44 (0) Tabitha Aldrich Smith, Director of Communications +44 (0) Tulchan Andrew Grant/David Allchurch + 44 (0) Underlying profit Underlying profit excludes exceptional items and the impact of the volatile pension finance cost as accounted for under IAS Return on invested capital Underlying profit before interest and tax for the year to the balance sheet date divided by net assets excluding debt, taxation liabilities and the pension deficit at the balance sheet date. 3 Group operating margin Operating profit before exceptional items divided by total revenue (excluding exceptional item), expressed as a percentage. Further information For photographs and videos, please visit the corporate media library: A presentation for analysts will be held at The London Stock Exchange, 10 Paternoster Square, London, EC4M 7LS. The presentation is at 9.30 am and a live audio webcast of the presentation will be available on the investors' section of the website at: Alternatively, you can listen to the presentation by dialing: +44 (0) , entering the pass code: and quoting The Whitbread Interim Results Presentation. This will be available as a replay for 28 days and will be available from approximately 12:00 noon on 29 April Dial: +44 (0) and enter the pass code:

3 CHIEF EXECUTIVE S REVIEW In the first six months of the year, Whitbread has continued to make excellent progress with strong growth across the Group. We are focused on meeting the needs of our customers and delivering on our strategy to increase market share through organic growth coupled with strong like for like sales growth. Group underlying profit before tax increased by 28.4% to million (2009/10: million), with underlying diluted earnings per share increasing by 29.5% to 61.27p. Group revenue for the first six months of the year grew by 14.5% to million with Group like for like sales growth of 7.8%. At Premier Inn, sales rose 14.0%, driven by a combination of increased volumes and new units. Like for like sales increased by 10.1%. Sales at our restaurants grew 4.5%, with like for like sales up 4.2%. At Costa, sales increased by 27.7%, with like for like sales up 8.5%. At the half year, net debt was million (versus million at 4 March 2010). In August, we successfully concluded a debt private placement of senior notes with an equivalent sterling value of c. 102 million. This transaction is part of the process to diversify our sources of funds and lengthen the debt maturity profile of the Group. Current facilities now stand at 1.26 billion. By the end of this financial year we will have successfully completed the 25 million central cost reduction plan that has been ongoing since Return on invested capital increased to 13.1%, well ahead of our cost of capital. The interim dividend has been increased by 16.6% to 11.25p (2009/10: 9.65p) and will be paid on 11 January 2011 to all shareholders on the register at the close of business on 29 October A scrip dividend alternative will again be offered. Building market share across the business Whitbread is the UK s largest hotel and restaurant group with brand leadership in hotels and coffee shops. We have successfully navigated the challenging economic conditions that have existed since We have become a stronger, more competitive and efficient business. In April, we set out a clear plan to improve market share across all our businesses, with a relentless focus on our customers and disciplined organic expansion. We are delivering on these plans. In Premier Inn, we are achieving the expected improvements in revpar through a volumeled strategy to bring occupancy back up to 80%. The plan has four key levers: increased advertising, dynamic pricing with Premier Offers, widening reservation distribution and increased sales activity. As evidence to the success of this strategy, in the half year, like for like occupancy improved 9.2 percentage points to 79.3%. This demonstrates good recovery and is nearing our 80% occupancy target, although the last quarter of the financial year tends to be seasonally weaker and will pull the full year average down. Regional revpar recovered strongly, up by 8.5%, compared to 1.8% growth in the regional budget hotel sector and 2.6% growth across the total regional hotel market. Premier Inn s revpar in London was up 13.2%, compared to 10.8% in the total London market. Our restaurants have shown good growth trends, consistently outperforming the market. We attribute this to robust management actions focusing on value for money. Importantly, 3

4 we have also continued our restaurant refurbishment programme throughout the recession in order to maintain the high standards our customers expect. Costa achieved another excellent performance, with pre-exceptional operating profits up 55.6%. Like for like sales increased by 8.5%. Costa has recorded 34 consecutive quarters of like for like sales growth. This has been driven by our customer loyalty programme and innovations in our product range such as Flat White and Ice Cold Costa. We have continued our investment in the UK Costa estate and the expansion of our international business. Opportunities for growth Hotels and Restaurants stepping up growth in UK budget hotel sector We have continued to make good progress against our objectives for growth. Having so far weathered the current challenging economic conditions, we are now well placed, with clear and deliverable organic growth plans, to increase the rate of new openings. In the first half, Premier Inn opened 795 rooms and in the second half of the year we plan to open at least 1,700 new rooms in up to 18 hotels, 8 of which are expected to be on joint sites with a Whitbread restaurant. As previously announced in September, 633 rooms will leave the estate following our decision to exit our 10-year Management Agreement on 14 hotels run by Roadchef plus one run by Moto. These sites are not a strong strategic fit for the Premier Inn brand. Our total UK portfolio will comprise over 43,000 rooms across more than 590 hotels by the end of the year. Looking ahead to 2011/12, we plan to open at least 3,500 rooms and continue to deliver on our stated target of increasing the current estate by around one third to 55,000 UK rooms by the end of 2013/14. Our current secured future pipeline of c.11,000 rooms substantially achieves this target. Costa poised for further expansion Costa is a well differentiated coffee shop brand and has grown to become the UK sector leader and second largest coffee shop operator worldwide. It is ideally positioned for further targeted UK and international expansion. We have opened 65 (net) new stores in the UK in the first half of the year, of which 32 are company operated and 33 are franchise stores. We are maintaining a balanced portfolio of stores across high streets, retail parks, rail, airport and other travel hubs as well as increasing stores in new locations such as hospitals and universities. Internationally, we opened 51 (net) new stores of which 30 are company operated and 21 are franchise stores. The integration of Coffeeheaven, our acquisition in Central Europe, is progressing well, is already achieving cost synergies and has significant growth opportunities. In the second half of the year, Costa will open over 130 new stores split approximately equally between the UK and international markets, bringing the total at the end of the year to around 1,850 Costa stores, some 1,200 in the UK and 650 internationally. Our target remains to increase the number of stores to 3,000 worldwide by 2014/15, maintaining leadership in the UK and building five key overseas businesses; in China, India, Russia, the Middle East and Central Europe. 4

5 Good Together corporate responsibility programme Our corporate responsibility programme, which we call Good Together, sets out our agenda to lead our industry in the UK towards a more sustainable way of working. Our second green hotel in Burgess Hill, Sussex will open later this year. The 60 bedroom Premier Inn features the best-performing green technologies and is anticipated to save 70% carbon and 60% water usage. Our first energy efficient restaurant, a 220 cover Beefeater Grill will be adjacent to the hotel. We have also recently refurbished our first energy efficient Costa store in Basingstoke to trial energy efficiency equipment and new working practices. As part of this year s capital investment programme we have announced a 7 million package of measures to reduce our carbon emissions and conserve water across the UK estate. Good Together encompasses a range of objectives to maintain and improve our responsibility credentials. Whitbread employees have now achieved over 2,000 qualifications through the apprenticeship and skills for life programmes. As we expand our outlet numbers, we have been able to continue to offer new jobs and training opportunities and this year we will create over 1,500 new jobs for customer facing employees. Current trading and outlook Whitbread has performed strongly in both good times and during the recession and is well placed to grow in the current environment. While the economic outlook remains uncertain, we are confident in the outturn for the year. Whitbread has strong foundations with a proven management team, who have a disciplined approach to growth, cost control and a relentless focus on our customers. Hotels and Restaurants Hotels and Restaurants H1 2010/11 m H1 2009/10 m % Change Premier Inn revenues Restaurants revenues Total revenue pre-exceptional Exceptional revenue* Total revenues post exceptional Premier Inn like for like sales % 10.1 (7.5) Restaurants like for like sales % Operating profit, pre-exceptional Operating profit, post exceptional * 5.0 m refund in respect of VAT on gaming machine income. Our Hotels and Restaurants have achieved strong growth in the first half. Total preexceptional revenues increased by 9.9% to million with pre-exceptional operating profit up 20.9% year on year to million. Like for like sales continued their positive momentum up 7.6%. Premier Inn goes from strength to strength as the UK s leading budget hotel brand, underpinned by our commercial action plan to achieve 80% occupancy. The four levers of this plan were increasing and focusing advertising spend, successfully implementing 5

6 dynamic pricing, widening our distribution channels and adding new corporate business accounts. Premier Inn maintained its strong growth momentum and outperformance versus the hotel market. Total sales at Premier Inn are up 14.0% to million (2009/10: million) with like for like sales up by 10.1%. Regional revpar was 6.7 percentage points ahead of our budget competitors and 5.9 percentage points ahead of the total hotel market. London revpar was up 2.4 percentage points ahead of the total London market. We have increased advertising spend, which includes a successful campaign fronted by Lenny Henry to promote our 29 room Premier Offers. This activity and other marketing initiatives have enabled Premier Inn to become the UK s favourite hotel brand, measured independently by YouGov. Dynamic pricing and Premier Offers of rooms from 29 have significantly boosted occupancy at weekends and holiday periods. Premierinn.com continues to attract increased visits to the website; over 3 million visits per month. 58% of all bookings are now taken via the website and revenues booked through this channel are up more than 20%. While the new website is by far the largest booking channel for Premier Inn, when combined with other online channels, we now see 65% of all bookings made online. Premier Inn is also a leading choice brand among business travellers and the sales team have been focused on growing large corporate accounts such as Fujitsu, Virgin Atlantic, Jewson, npower and some central Government departments. This has delivered a Business Account revenue increase of 24.1% to 103 million in the first half, as companies choose our value for money proposition, consistent room quality and wide choice of locations. Premier Inn opened 795 new rooms across 9 hotels in the first half of the year. Our total rooms at the half-year, prior to the reduction of rooms due the Roadchef exit, stands at 43,588, of which 1,079 rooms are located in our international markets of India, Dubai and Ireland. Our restaurants continued to outperform the market throughout the first half as we attracted more customers looking for great value food and drink in a comfortable environment. They achieved further consistent positive like for like sales growth which is a commendable performance compared to the experience of previous World Cups. Increased occupancy in our hotels also had a positive impact on restaurant sales, enhanced by our well received and successful 20 meal deal offer for Premier Inn guests. Revenues have increased by 4.5% to million (2009/10: million) with like for like sales growth of 4.2% driven by an increase in total covers of 7% and like for like covers of 6.4%. Cost conscious customers know that they can always find a great value meal deal made with high quality ingredients such as two meals for 10 at Brewers Fayre. Whilst growing sales, we continued to focus on tight cost control, through both operating efficiencies across the business and improved procurement terms, for example, on items such as laundry and utilities. This has resulted in a 2% improvement in income before fixed costs margin for Hotels and Restaurants although this improvement will be less in the balance of the year as we lap agreements reached last year. We remain committed to maintaining our hotels and restaurants to the highest standards. A key factor in this marketplace is that we did not cut our ongoing refurbishment programme during the recession. We refurbished 4,000 hotel rooms and 71 restaurants in the first half. 6

7 Costa H1 2010/11 m H1 09/10 m % Change System sales * 33.2 Revenues Like for like sales % Operating profit, pre-exceptional Operating profit, post exceptional *2009/10 restated to include corporate licences Costa entered the new financial year with a strong growth platform and has delivered another excellent performance. Pre-exceptional operating profit grew by 55.6% to 19.6 million. Like for like sales increased by 8.5% and in our international business, profits continued to build. Total system sales, which are sales from company owned and franchise stores combined, were up 33.2%. International Costa franchise store sales were up by 22.2% to 51.2 million and total UK franchise store sales were up by 51.7% to 83.7 million. Costa operates in 25 countries and is the number two international coffee shop operator with 1,716 stores: 1,134 in the UK and 582 overseas. We have opened 116 (net) stores in the year to date, including 62 company-operated stores (32 in the UK and 30 internationally) and 54 franchise stores (33 in the UK and 21 internationally). The integration of the Coffeeheaven acquisition is progressing well and performance in the key Polish market is in line with our first year plan. Looking forward, Coffeeheaven may have more potential than we originally anticipated. We now operate 77 units in Poland and by the end of this year we expect to open six stores. We expect to have c.100 stores in Poland in 2012/13. Innovation and customer focus are the watchwords for Costa in its commitment to delivering an unbeatable coffee experience. In January 2010, Costa introduced Flat White, which brought in more new customers and since then, we have sold 2.5 million Flat Whites, equating to some 5.5% of all coffee sales. Further product innovation comes from our improved range of summer drinks with hand made cold coffee based drinks, promoted with improved in-store communication. This has generated an increase of 39% on like for like handmade cold beverage sales in July and August. We launched a trial for a new breakfast food range to boost food capture in this important morning segment. This trial has proved successful and new breakfast product changes will be rolled out more widely during the second half. In March, we launched the Costa Coffee Club, a loyalty programme which has delivered excellent results, attracting over three million members. The card is used in over 40% of transactions. Most recently, we have launched a new brand building campaign signalling Costa is For Coffee Lovers. For the first time Costa has begun advertising on television, giving further impetus to our brand building activity and continuing to emphasise the preference consumers have for an excellent cup of coffee. 7

8 We are testing two concept stores in central London which are achieving excellent results. These stores feature new layouts and designs specifically for urban markets. A metropolitan store design with a more youthful feel was opened on Great Portland Street, London. We also refurbished a store near Farringdon Station, London to capture more effectively the fast service requirements of business commuters. In the second half of the year our first energy efficient refurbished Costa re-opens in Basingstoke where we anticipate up to 30% reduction in energy use. Note: Costa Coffee Club On 4 March 2010 Costa launched its loyalty card in the UK which offers customers a loyalty incentive. For the purposes of showing the underlying performance in like for like sales, we have excluded the effects of IFRIC13 "Customer Loyalty Programmes," which is a non cash adjustment that requires a change in the timing of revenue recognition in respect of loyalty incentives. IFRIC13 has been applied to our statutory sales. We will continue to report like for like sales on a gross basis in our trading statements and other announcements. If IFRIC13 had been applied to the Costa sales reported then like for like sales would be 1.4% lower for H1. 8

9 FINANCE REVIEW Revenue Group revenue increased by 14.5% year on year to million including exceptional revenue of 5.0m arising from a refund of VAT on gaming machine income in our restaurants. Revenue by business segment m 2010/ /10 % Change Hotels and Restaurants % Costa % Less: inter-segment (1.1) (0.9) Revenue % The growth in revenue in Hotels and Restaurants has come from a combination of new units and improved occupancy. Premier Inn added 9 new hotels and 795 rooms whilst like for like occupancy grew year on year by 9.2 percentage points to 79.3%. Two new restaurants were opened in the half year. It was a similar story at Costa. In the first half 65 units (net) were opened in the UK and 51 (net) overseas. UK equity retail like for like sales grew by 8.5%. A full six months of turnover for Coffeeheaven, which was purchased in February 2010, of 14.2 million (2009/10: nil), also contributed to the revenue growth. Results Underlying profit before tax for the first half is million, up 28.4% on last year and underlying diluted earnings per share is 61.27p compared to 47.33p last year, up 29.5%. Total profit for the half year is million which compared to 73.1 million last year, up 58.7%. Exceptional items Exceptional items aggregate to a credit of 12.7 million. There is an exceptional deferred tax credit of 9.3 million arising from the reduction in corporation tax rates from 28% to 27%. In addition we have received a 5 million refund of VAT on gaming machine income in the period which is included in revenue. This follows the ruling that the application of VAT to certain types of gaming machine income contravened the European Union's principle of fiscal neutrality. As HM Revenue and Customs have appealed against this ruling there is a contingent liability for the amount of the refund plus interest. Corporation tax of 1.6 million is charged against these additional profits recognised. Interest The underlying interest charge is 11.6 million reflecting the reduced levels of average debt in the period compared to last year which fell by 19.3% to million. The total pre-exceptional interest cost amounted to 17.4 million. Included within this figure is an IAS 19 pension charge of 5.8 million (2009/10: 7.7 million). This charge represents the difference between the expected return on scheme assets and the interest cost of the scheme liabilities. The pension cost for the year is expected to be 11.5 million. 9

10 Tax An underlying tax expense of 44.3 million represents an effective tax rate of 29.2% on the underlying profits, which compares with 30.7% last year. The year on year movement has been predominantly driven by the impact of the rising share price on the tax associated with share based payments and improving results in certain of the group's overseas operations. Earnings per share Diluted underlying earnings per share increased by 29.5% to 61.27p. EPS 2010/ /10 Underlying (Diluted) 61.27p 47.33p Non GAAP adjustments: (2.38)p (3.16)p Pension interest Exceptional items 7.21p (1.90)p Total operations (diluted) 66.10p 42.27p Further details can be found in note 6. Dividend An interim dividend of 11.25p, an increase on last year of 16.6%, will be paid on 11 January 2011 to all shareholders on the register at the close of business on 29 October Net Debt and Cashflow The principal cashflow movements are as follows: m 2010/ /10 Cashflow from Operations Capital Expenditure (88.8) (78.2) Capital and loan injections to JV s (1.2) (6.3) Interest, tax and dividends (57.7) (75.5) Other (3.7) 1.6 Net cashflow Debt Bfwd (513.4) (623.1) Debt Cfwd (467.2) (606.6) The Group has generated strong cash flows from operations in the half year which are up on last year by 22.7 million. Coupled with a small cash tax inflow of 1.8 million (2009/10: cash outflow of 21.6 million) this has generated the increased cash inflow for the half year of 46.2 million. The cash tax reduction is due to the pension arrangements and the tax consequences thereon which are set out below in more detail. As a consequence of the above cash inflow of 46.2 million, net debt reduced in the half from million to million. The weighted average net debt in the period was million compared to million last year. During the half year the Group undertook an issue of private placement loan notes in both US$ and sterling. These loan notes were issued in 3 series with maturities of 7 and 10 years and coupons from 4.55% to 5.23%. The US$ component was swapped to sterling with the total transaction giving a value of million and sterling interest rates ranging from fixed at 5.19% to 5.23% and variable rates with a spread of between 1.715% and 1.755%. The proceeds were used to repay drawings under the shorter maturity bank 10

11 debt. More details of this transaction are set out in note 7. This issue is the first step the Group has taken to diversify the tenure and sources of funding. In addition to the loan notes set out above, the Group has committed revolving credit facilities of 1,155 million as at 2 September The revolving credit facilities reduce to 930 million in December 2010, 855 million in December 2011 and 455 million in December 2012 with the remaining facility maturing in March The policy of the Board is to manage its financial position and capital structure in a manner that is consistent with Whitbread maintaining its investment grade status. Capital expenditure Total Group cash capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment and intangible assets during the half year was 88.8 million with Hotels and Restaurants spend amounting to 71.7 million and Costa 17.1 million. Capital expenditure is split between acquisition expenditure, which includes the acquisition and development of properties ( 53.5m) and maintenance expenditure ( 35.3m). A further 1.2 million (2009/10: 6.3 million) was contributed in equity or loans to the Group s joint ventures. Pensions As at 2 September 2010, there was an IAS 19 pension deficit of million, which compares to million as at 4 March million of the movement arises from actuarial losses as a result of the reduction in the discount factor from 5.6% to 5.1%. Following on from the 102 million contribution to the Pension Scheme made by the Group in the year ended 4 March 2010, an additional contribution was made in the half year of 39 million on the same basis. The total contribution of 141 million does not meet the definition of a plan asset under IAS 19 and therefore is not reflected in the pension deficit of 500 million. The additional contribution by the Group to the Pension Scheme of 39 million will reduce the Group s cash tax payments in this and next year by approximately 10.5 million in total. Further details of this transaction are set out in note 9 below. Post Balance Sheet Events There are no significant post balance sheet events. 11