WHITBREAD

will fill in the market on its thirdquarter performance on Thursday, fresh from completing its £3.9 billion sale of Costa Coffee to Coca-Cola to leave just the Premier Inn hotels arm under its control.

Scribblers at RBC reckon revenue per available room, the industry metric for working out how well hotels have done, will dip 1.5 per cent, largely due to a 3 per cent fall from outside of London.

Of more interest to shareholders will be what happens to the cash from the Costa sale. RBC analysts have pencilled in a £2.9 billion capital return, which will be a nice payday for shareholders.