Whitbread rallies as it resurrects dividend

WHITBREAD shares jumped as it restored its dividend after trading in its hotels topped pre-Covid levels.

The Premier Inn and Beefeater owner made profits of £58.2m in the year to March having racked up a loss of £1bn a year earlier. Sales rose from £589m to £1.7bn.

Once restrictions eased, it quickly returned to, and then exceeded, pre-pandemic levels. Its hotels business was trading 12.5pc higher than two years ago in the second half of the year, while its food sales remained 9pc down on pre-Covid levels.

Shareholders have been battered by the pandemic but will get a 34.7p per share dividend for the year, meaning Whitbread will pay out £70m. Shares rose 4.3pc, or 118p, to 2875p but are still down 31pc from February 2020.

The firm sounded the alarm over the cost of living, saying inflation in its industry would be as high as 9pc by next March.

It said price rises across the business would be inevitable but would try to control inflation by negotiating with suppliers and cutting costs elsewhere. The update came as Whitbread searches for a successor to chief executive Alison Brittain.