NEW SUNDAY TELEGRAPH BUSINESS EDITOR ON STEEP LEARNING CURVE August 20, 2009 AS A replacement for Sky’s newest business recruit Mark Kleinman, a man with one of the fattest contact books in journalism, the appointment of Kamal Ahmed as Sunday Telegraph business editor was never going to sit well with his jilted rivals. Ahmed, currently head of comms at the Equality and Human Rights Commission and a [...]
Whitbread’s chief weighs up options for expansion plan August 3, 2009 WHITBREAD chief executive Alan Parker yesterday revealed he will be launching an extensive international and domestic expansion plan and took City analysts by surprise by hinting he might be prepared to tap shareholders for funds before Christmas. Whitbread, which owns budget hotel chain Premier Inn and Costa Coffee, has been eyeing up prospects in the [...]
Travelodge aims to be biggest hotelier in capital ahead of 2012 Olympic games July 30, 2009 TRAVELODGE yesterday announced an £84m expansion plan that will create 200 jobs and make it the biggest hotel chain in London. It has snapped up six new hotels in a bid to cash in when the 2012 olympics comes to the capital. Once the new properties open, the hotel chain will operate 45 London hotels, [...]
Whitbread dumps more pubs July 28, 2009 Leisure operator Whitbread yesterday placed four more high-quality pubs on the market as part of plans to restructure its estate. The company, which owns the Premier Inn and Brewers Fayre brands, is disposing of the pubs as part of plans to focus on properties where a Premier Inn can be built on the same site. [...]
Premier Inn’s sales tumble June 16, 2009 WHITBREAD, Britain’s biggest hotel operator, yesterday blamed the worst hotel recession in three decades for a sharp fall in first quarter revenues at budget hotel chain Premier Inn. The group said Premier Inn’s like-for-like sales fell by 7.9 per cent, after revenue per available room (Revpar) slumped by 9.6 per cent. Chief executive Alan Parker [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 16, 2009 REED ELSEVIERPanmure Gordon retained its “buy” rating on Reed Elsevier after an update call with the company. It said that the shares have been disconcertingly weak recently but that this is understandable in view of the weak dollar. The broker leaves its core assumptions unchanged, forecasting earnings per share growth year-on-year. SERCOSerco’s shares have rallied [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 16, 2009 REED ELSEVIERPanmure Gordon retained its “buy” rating on Reed Elsevier after an update call with the company. It said that the shares have been disconcertingly weak recently but that this is understandable in view of the weak dollar. The broker leaves its core assumptions unchanged, forecasting earnings per share growth year-on-year. SERCOSerco’s shares have rallied [...]
Consumer-related stocks to shed some light on spending June 14, 2009 RETAILERS will be very much in the spotlight again this week, with trading updates expected from the great and good of the supermarket world and retail sales data expected to shed more light on the high street picture. Tesco will get the ball rolling tomorrow when it releases its first quarter sales data, but is [...]
Bang for your buck: what the world’s best business hotels offer June 7, 2009 BUSINESS hotels often promise the world, but they often disappoint. Small things like a slow internet connection, a restaurant that closes early or trouble getting hold of an iron can play havoc with your plans. To work, they have to get so many things right. Let’s face it, you’re only going to remember the one [...]
Woes aid Whitbread September 5, 2008 Whitbread, Britain’s biggest hotel and restaurants operator, yesterday emerged as a rare winner in the consumer slowdown, revealing a boost in sales in the first half of this year. Whitbread’s Premier Inn budget hotel chain accounts for about 70 per cent of total profits. Premier Inn had total sales up 17.9 per cent and like-for-like [...]