Whitbread expected to post more rising sales

HOTELS-to-coffee shop group Whitbread is expected to post more rising sales this week while the City will be watching to see if a new boss can put some fizz back into wine merchant Majestic.

Premier Inn and Costa coffee owner Whitbread updates the City on first quarter trading tomorrow, weeks after announcing the appointment of a top banking executive as its next boss. Alison Brittain, head of retail at Lloyds, will become one of just a handful of female FTSE100 bosses when she takes over from current chief executive Andy Harrison, who is due to retire in February.

Numis analyst Wyn Ellis said Whitbread’s first quarter figures would be up against tough comparatives from last year, when Premier Inn saw like-for-like sales rise 9.5 per cent and Costa posted an increase of 4.5 per cent. But he still expected a “solid” update for the quarter.

Brokers at Morgan Stanley have pencilled in overall likefor-like sales growth for the first quarter of 5.5 per cent, with Premier Inn expected to be up 8 per cent and Costa by 5 per cent – all a little slower than the pace of annual growth for 2014/15.

The City will get its first look at the new boss of Majestic Wine when he presents the retailer’s annual results today.

Rowan Gormley joined Majestic after it bought online rival Naked Wines for up to £70 million, a company he had founded in 2008.

Brokers at Investec expect full-year pre-tax profit at Majestic Wine to fall 11.7 per cent to £21m, after a challenging Christmas period which saw it forced to cut margins and increase promotions to lift sales.