LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - Britain's biggest hotel andcoffee shop operator Whitbread said on Tuesday its chiefexecutive Andy Harrison would retire by next February as itposted a better than expected rise in full-year profit.
Harrison, who has grown Whitbread considerably since joiningin September 2010 from easyJet, will become Chairman ofBritish homewares retailer Dunelm on July 7 this year.
Whitbread said it had started the search for a replacement.
Whitbread, which runs Costa Coffee, Premier Inn hotels andpubs such as Brewers Fayre, said on Tuesday pretax profit forthe year to Feb. 26 was 488.1 million pounds ($744 million), up18.5 percent on a year ago and ahead of an average forecast of478.7 million.
($1 = 0.6562 pounds) (Reporting by Neil Maidment; editing by Kate Holton)