Breaking the mould?

The City has all but opened a book on the odds of Whitbread biting the bullet and breaking up the business through a sale of the Costa coffee arm or Premier Inn.

However, unlike clothing-and-sugar pairing ABF (above item), a spinoff of one or other of Whitbread’s businesses is not so easily decided given both Costa and Premier have delivered handsomely at different times in recent years (occasionally at the same time).

EX-ITV and Royal Mail boss Adam Crozier arrives as Whitbread’s new chairman shortly. The topic will probably be near the top of his in-tray.