Whitbread kicked off life as a focused hotel company with a weak third-quarter trading update and warned investors that its results for 2020 would be no better than flat.
The Premier Inn operator’s shares, which have been buoyed in recent months by the £3.9bn sale of Costa Coffee to Coca-Cola, fell by 32p, or 0.7%, to £47.41 yesterday on the back of its cautious outlook.
Alison Brittain, chief executive, said that although trading in London had benefited from inbound tourism, in the regions lower consumer confidence in both the leisure and corporate markets had dampened demand.
