Andy Harrison’s Whitbread exit dents shares
SHARES in Whitbread slipped 2.5 per cent last night after Andy Harrison announced plans to step down following five years as chief executive in which pre-tax profits have surged by more than 220 per cent.
The Costa Coffee and Premier Inn owner has seen its market value grow fourfold to almost £10bn since Harrison joined from easyJet in 2010, as it tapped into booming demand for takeaway coffee and budget hotel rooms in the UK and overseas.
“I’ve been a chief executive of three different companies now … and it’s just time to do something that’s a bit less demanding,” said Harrison, who will step down at the end of the financial year in February 2016.
His first new role will be acting as chairman of British homewares retailer Dunelm from July after joining its board as a non-executive last year.
Whitbread said it has already started a succession process led by chairman Richard Baker and is considering both internal and external candidates.
The news of his departure came as Whitbread posted an 18.5 per cent rise in underlying pre-tax profit to £488.1m for the year to 26 February, on sales up 13.7 per cent to £2.6bn.
It also hiked its growth targets, saying it would aim to have 85,000 Premier Inn rooms in the UK by 2020, up from its previous target of 75,000 by 2018 and against 59,138 rooms currently.
Whitbread also aims to reach £2.5bn of sales at Costa by 2020 from a previous target of £2bn by 2018.
THE RUNNERS AND RIDERS TO SUCCEED HARRISON
Christopher Rogers already leads half of the Whitbread business as managing director of Costa and is a favourite to succeed Andy Harrison. A qualified chartered accountant, Rogers joined Whitbread eight years ago as group finance director and has been overseeing Costa’s international expansion since 2012.
CHRISTOPHER ROGERS
Nicholas Cadbury replaced Rogers as group finance director in 2012 and previously held various senior roles at Dixons Retail (now Dixons Carphone). He is seen as a strong internal candidate for the role, however, analysts suggested that he was better suited to finance – as opposed to chief executive – roles.
NICHOLAS CADBURY
A former Whitbread executive, Gala Coral boss Carl Leaver is seen as a potential external candidate for the role. He left the company in 2003 after serving as managing director of Travel Inn (now Premier Inn) and has since worked as chief executive of hotels operator De Vere Group and as head of Marks & Spencer’s international division.
CARL LEAVER