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Strong start to the year in the UK; continued progress in Germany
Throughout this release percentage growth comparisons are comparing Q1 FY27 performance for the 13 weeks to 28 May 2026 to the same period in FY26, unless stated otherwise.
Comment from Dominic Paul, Whitbread Chief Executive:
"We delivered a strong and improved performance in the first quarter. In the UK, driven by the strength of our brand and commercial programme, total accommodation sales and RevPAR continued to grow ahead of the wider market. In Germany, demand strengthened through the quarter and with the opening of six new leasehold hotels, we drove double-digit accommodation sales growth and continued to outperform the wider market.
"Strong leisure bookings mean that our forward booked position is ahead of last year and we remain confident in the full year outlook. Whilst we expect the impact of business rates to remain in line with our previous FY27 guidance, we are continuing to press the UK Government for changes to FY28 and FY29.
"On 30 April, following a comprehensive review of all options to maximise value creation and deliver profitable growth, we outlined our New Five-Year Plan. We are executing each element at pace including: our proposed exit from all remaining branded restaurants in the UK to become a pure-play hotel business; refocused growth plans in the UK that will drive higher profits and returns; and accelerating cash flow and returns in Germany.
"With a favourable supply environment in the UK and Germany, we are focused on driving our best-in-class commercial and efficiencies programmes whilst at the same time reducing our capital intensity by £1bn, a combination that will increase margins and returns and generate £2bn of free cash flow available for shareholders by FY31."
Overview
• | Total Group sales were up 2% to £727m, with positive trading performance in both Premier Inn UK and Premier Inn Germany, partially offset by the expected reduction in UK food and beverage ('F&B') sales as a result of our Accelerating Growth Plan ('AGP') to transition a number of our branded restaurants to a more efficient integrated offering |
• | Premier Inn UK: o Total accommodation sales were up 3% versus last year; total RevPAR was up 2% o With the strength of our brand and commercial programme, we continued to outperform the midscale and economy ('M&E') market1 with total accommodation sales growth +1.0pp and RevPAR growth +1.2pp, delivering an increased RevPAR premium of £6.81 o Strong performance in London on both total accommodation sales up 7% and RevPAR up 4%; Regions were also ahead with both total accommodation sales and RevPAR up 1% o F&B sales performed in line with our expectations, down 5% reflecting the impact of our AGP |
• | Premier Inn Germany: o Total accommodation sales were up 13% in local currency (up 16% in GBP), led by our continued estate growth and the benefit of our commercial initiatives o Total estate RevPAR was €63 and RevPAR of our more established hotels2 was €73, significantly ahead of the wider M&E market3 that was impacted by a lower number of high impact events this year |
Q1 FY27 Summary
| Q1 | ||
| UK | Germany4 | Total |
Sales growth: | |||
Accommodation | 3% | 16% | 4% |
Food & beverage | (5)% | 32% | (3)% |
Other | 2% | 28% | 7% |
Total | 1% | 18% | 2% |
| |||
| Q1 | ||
| UK | Germany4 | Total |
Like-for-like sales growth: | |||
Accommodation | 2% | 5% | 2% |
Food & beverage | (2)% | 19% | (1)% |
Other | 1% | 16% | 4% |
Total | 1% | 7% | 2% |
1: STR data, standard basis, 27 February 2026 to 28 May 2026, UK M&E market excluding Premier Inn
2: Cohort of 17 more established German hotels that were open and trading under the Premier Inn brand for 12 consecutive months as at 4 March 2022
3: STR data, standard basis, 27 February 2026 to 28 May 2026, Germany M&E market excluding Premier Inn
4: Germany sales growth in GBP
Outlook
In the UK, our forward booked position remains ahead of last year, supported by peak leisure bookings. Whilst visibility remains limited, the strength of our brand and national coverage, together with our best-in-class commercial programme, means we are confident that we can continue to outperform the wider M&E market.
In Germany, our forward booked position is also ahead of last year and with our increasing maturity and commercial initiatives we are confident in driving further RevPAR growth and outperforming the wider market.
Annual General Meeting and FY27 interim results
The Group's Annual General Meeting is being held later today and the FY27 interim results will be announced on 15 October 2026.
For more information please contact:
Investor Relations - Whitbread | investorrelations@whitbread.com |
Peter Reynolds, Director of Investor Relations | peter.reynolds@whitbread.com |
Kirsten O'Reilly, Investor Relations Manager | kirsten.oreilly@whitbread.com |
Kitty Hobhouse, Investor Relations Manager | kitty.hobhouse@whitbread.com |
Media - Brunswick | whitbread@brunswickgroup.com |
Tim Danaher | +44 (0) 20 7404 5959 |
A live Q&A teleconference for investors and analysts will be held at 8:00am GMT on 18 June 2026. Details to join are noted below. An on-demand version of this will be made available on the website (www.whitbread.com/investors/results-reports-and-presentations) shortly after.
Q&A teleconference participant dial-in numbers:
Start time - 8:00am GMT
United Kingdom (Local): 020 3936 2999
Participant Access Code: 412 773
Appendix
1) Premier Inn UK key performance indicators
|
|
| FY26 |
|
| FY27 |
|
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Full Year | Q1 | Q12 % |
London |
|
|
|
| |||
Occupancy (full inventory) | 76.6% | 82.7% | 84.0% | 74.2% | 79.4% | 79.2% | 2.7pp |
Average room rate (£) | 105.88 | 120.87 | 119.11 | 98.70 | 111.56 | 106.36 | 0.5% |
Revenue per available room (£) | 81.07 | 99.99 | 100.01 | 73.28 | 88.53 | 84.26 | 3.9% |
Total accommodation sales (£m) | 117.2 | 144.5 | 144.5 | 107.4 | 513.6 | 125.6 | 7.2% |
|
|
| |||||
Regions |
|
|
|
| |||
Occupancy (full inventory) | 79.1% | 83.1% | 82.2% | 71.7% | 79.0% | 79.1% | 0.0pp |
Average room rate (£) | 72.92 | 86.30 | 76.64 | 63.07 | 75.17 | 73.56 | 0.9% |
Revenue per available room (£) | 57.68 | 71.76 | 63.00 | 45.20 | 59.40 | 58.16 | 0.8% |
Total accommodation sales (£m) | 367.8 | 455.8 | 400.2 | 287.5 | 1,511.4 | 372.0 | 1.1% |
|
|
| |||||
Total |
|
|
|
| |||
Occupancy (full inventory) | 78.6% | 83.1% | 82.5% | 72.1% | 79.1% | 79.1% | 0.5pp |
Average room rate (£) | 78.85 | 92.68 | 84.65 | 69.94 | 81.95 | 79.77 | 1.2% |
Revenue per available room (£) | 62.00 | 76.99 | 69.86 | 50.46 | 64.81 | 63.10 | 1.8% |
Total accommodation sales (£m) | 485.0 | 600.3 | 544.8 | 394.9 | 2,025.0 | 497.6 | 2.6% |
|
| ||||||
Total accommodation sales growth vs M&E market1 | +1.9pp | +0.3pp | (1.1)pp | +0.3pp | +0.4pp | +1.0pp | - |
RevPAR growth vs M&E market1 | +1.9pp | +1.0pp | +0.2pp | +1.6pp | +1.1pp | +1.2pp | - |
RevPAR premium vs M&E market1 | £6.04 | £6.73 | £6.24 | £4.55 | £5.87 | £6.81 | - |
|
|
|
| ||||
F&B and other Premier Inn UK sales |
|
|
| ||||
Food and beverage sales (£m) | 155.2 | 158.9 | 147.7 | 138.6 | 600.3 | 147.5 | (5.0)% |
Other Premier Inn UK sales (£m) | 8.1 | 8.7 | 9.3 | 8.0 | 34.1 | 8.2 | 2.3% |
Total F&B and other UK sales (£m) | 163.2 | 167.6 | 157.0 | 146.6 | 634.4 | 155.7 | (4.6)% |
| |||||||
Total UK sales (£m) | 648.2 | 767.9 | 701.8 | 541.5 | 2,659.4 | 653.3 | 0.8% |
2) Premier Inn Germany key performance indicators
|
|
| FY26 |
|
| FY27 |
|
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Full Year | Q1 | Q12 % |
Occupancy (full inventory) | 67.4% | 70.0% | 76.5% | 62.3% | 69.0% | 71.7% | 4.3pp |
Average room rate (£) | 79.49 | 74.64 | 86.70 | 72.03 | 78.53 | 76.19 | (4.2)% |
Revenue per available room (£) | 53.58 | 52.23 | 66.35 | 44.91 | 54.19 | 54.62 | 2.0% |
Total accommodation sales (£m) | 53.4 | 52.6 | 67.5 | 47.3 | 220.8 | 61.8 | 15.6% |
Total food and beverage sales (£m) | 7.6 | 7.6 | 9.4 | 7.9 | 32.5 | 10.0 | 32.1% |
Total other sales (£m) | 1.7 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 7.5 | 2.1 | 27.7% |
Total sales (£m) | 62.7 | 62.2 | 79.0 | 57.0 | 260.8 | 73.9 | 17.9% |
|
|
| FY26 |
|
| FY27 |
|
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Full Year | Q1 | Q12 % |
Occupancy (full inventory) | 67.4% | 70.0% | 76.5% | 62.3% | 69.0% | 71.7% | 4.3pp |
Average room rate (€) | 94.11 | 86.84 | 99.36 | 82.63 | 91.06 | 87.85 | (6.7)% |
Revenue per available room (€) | 63.43 | 60.77 | 76.04 | 51.52 | 62.84 | 62.98 | (0.7)% |
Total accommodation sales (€m) | 63.3 | 61.2 | 77.3 | 54.2 | 256.0 | 71.2 | 12.6% |
Total food and beverage sales (€m) | 8.9 | 8.9 | 10.8 | 9.1 | 37.7 | 11.5 | 28.7% |
Total other sales (€m) | 2.0 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.1 | 8.7 | 2.4 | 24.4% |
Total sales (€m) | 74.2 | 72.3 | 90.5 | 65.4 | 302.4 | 85.2 | 14.8% |
Notes:
1: STR data, standard basis, 27 February 2026 to 28 May 2026, UK M&E market excluding Premier Inn
2: Growth versus Q1 FY26
Whitbread (WTB)
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