Whitbread plc board is recommending a final dividend of 60.6p per share (FY24: 62.9p) making 97.0p for the year (FY24: 97.0p) and plans to launch a £250m share buy-back to be completed over the next twelve months
Other financial highlights include:
• Premier Inn UK: total accommodation sales were in line with last year and with the strength of their brand and commercial initiatives,they outperformed the M&E market by +0.7pp; while revenue per available room('RevPAR') was down 2%, they maintained a healthy RevPAR premium of £5.49 and outperformed the M&E market in the second half by +0.3pp on RevPAR growth
• UK F&B sales were in line with their expectations and fell by 11% due to the impact of AGP, partially mitigated by strong breakfast sales
• UK adjusted pre-tax profit margins were 18.8% (FY24: 21.2%), reflecting the impact of AGP, softer market demand and cost inflation, partially offset by increased cost efficiencies
• Premier Inn Germany: their estate outperformed the M&E market and total sales grew 21%, driven by the increasing maturity of our hotels and brand, enhanced distribution, a strong events calendar and the positive impact of their commercial initiatives; adjusted loss before tax reduced to £11m (FY24: £36m)
• Group: adjusted profit before tax was £483m (FY24: £561m) and statutory profit before tax was £368m (FY24: £452m) after charging £116m of adjusting items (FY24: £109m) including a non-cash, net impairment charge of £76m, and £45m relating to the Group's strategic IT & F&B programme costs including AGP
• Group: adjusted EBITDAR was £1,030m (FY24: £1,057m)
• Total cash returned to shareholders via dividends and share buy-backs in FY25 of £442m (FY24: £756m)
