Whitbread Regulatory News (WTB)

Good financial performance and on-plan for full-year results

· Sale of Costa to The Coca-Cola Company for £3.9 billion approved by shareholders

· UK network increased to over 74,000 rooms, with a committed pipeline of over 13,000 rooms

· Strong pipeline in Germany with around 6,000 rooms to be delivered by 2021

· Solid financial performance supported by tight cost control, maintaining strong return on capital

· On-plan to deliver full-year results from continuing operations

*Profit from discontinued operations is statutory profit after tax from the Costa business, which was classified as held for sale at 30 August 2018.

· Revenue increased 2.6% to £1,079 million, reflecting continued capacity addition

· Total UK accommodation sales growth of 4.8% and like-for-like accommodation sales growth of 0.2% impacted by weaker consumer demand

· Underlying profit before tax increased in-line with sales by 2.5% to £270 million, supported by tight cost control and the benefit of the ongoing efficiency programme

· Costa is now reported as a discontinued operation, statutory profit for the period increased 3.5% to £47 million

· Strong cash generation with discretionary free cash flow at £283 million

· Strong balance sheet with net debt of £881 million and committed debt facilities of £1.8 billion

· Statutory profit before tax was maintained at £257 million

· Return on capital held broadly flat at 12.4% despite pace and timing of new capacity

Alison Brittain, Whitbread Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"The highlight of the first half was the announcement of our agreement for the sale of Costa to The Coca-Cola Company for £3.9 billion, which received the overwhelming approval of our shareholders in October. We intend to return a significant majority of the net cash proceeds to shareholders, although the exact amount, timing and method will be determined following discussions with stakeholders, including our shareholders, pension fund and debt providers. The sale of Costa now requires Coca-Cola to obtain regulatory approval in the EU and China. Much work still remains to be done to ensure a smooth and successful separation from Whitbread at completion and during the following transitional service period, which we are confident in our ability to execute efficiently.

Following the sale of Costa, Whitbread will be a focused hotel business with operations in the UK, Germany and the Middle East. In the first half of the year, Premier Inn delivered total UK accommodation sales growth of 4.8%. Although we have seen some weakness in consumer demand over the summer, we have made further encouraging progress with our efficiency programme, ensuring we remain on track with our plans for the current year.

We have grown the UK network to over 74,000 rooms, with a further 13,000 rooms in our pipeline and we have potential to further extend our growth runway in the UK to 100,000 rooms and beyond. Alongside this material addition of new capacity, we have maintained our leading occupancy rate increased the rate of customers booking with us directly and delivered a strong return on capital. In terms of innovation, we have recently announced the trial of a new format in the UK, "Zip by Premier Inn", which will open in the first quarter of 2019. In Germany, our pipeline is now close to 6,000 rooms, equivalent to 30% of our total pipeline for Premier Inn.

We are now looking forward to dedicating our focus to the significant structural growth opportunities available to Premier Inn in the UK and internationally. We will be holding an investor day in February to give an update on our ambitious plans to access these attractive opportunities. We will provide further detail on how we will enhance our investment in our unique, integrated operating model, which will enable us to maintain our market-leading position and access attractive growth opportunities. We will also discuss the optimal capital structure and property strategy to support our growth plans. Ongoing disciplined execution of our plan will continue to deliver sustainable shareholder value through growth in earning and a strong return on capital."

For more information please contact:

Investor queries

Matt Johnson, Whitbread PLC | matt.johnson@whitbread.com | +44 (0) 7848 146 761

Ann Hyams, Whitbread PLC | ann.hyams@whitbread.com | +44 (0) 7796 709 087

Media queries

Anna Glover, Whitbread PLC | +44 (0) 7768 917 651

David Allchurch / Jessica Reid, Tulchan Communications | +44 (0) 20 7353 4200

Footnotes and definitions are contained immediately prior to the financial statements.

For photographs and video please visit Whitbread's media library at www.whitbread.co.uk/media.

A presentation for investors and analysts will be at 9.30am on 23 October 2018 at Deutsche Bank, 1 Great Winchester Street, London, EC2N 2DB. A webcast of the presentation will be available through www.whitbread.co.uk/investors.

Strategic update | A focused, fully integrated hotel business

Sale of Costa to The Coca-Cola Company for £3.9 billion

On 31 August 2018, Whitbread announced it had entered into an agreement for the sale of Costa Limited ("Costa"), one of the world's leading coffee brands, to The Coca-Cola Company ("Coca-Cola"), for an enterprise value of £3.9 billion (the "Transaction"). The Transaction is a Class 1 transaction for Whitbread under the Listing Rules and was therefore conditional upon the approval of shareholders. A General Meeting of shareholders was held on 10 October 2018 and the resolution to approve the Transaction was successfully passed with 99.3% in favour.

The Transaction is now conditional on Coca-Cola obtaining two anti-trust regulatory approvals in the EU and China. These anti-trust clearances and completion of the Transaction are expected to occur in the first half of 2019, at which time Whitbread will receive the proceeds of £3.8 billion net of tax, other transaction costs and separation costs, estimated to be approximately £100 million.

The Whitbread Board intends to return a significant majority of the net cash proceeds to shareholders, unless more value creating opportunities arise and subject to prevailing market conditions. Net cash proceeds will also be used to reduce the Group's borrowings and the Group's pension fund deficit. A reduction in the Group's indebtedness will provide headroom for further expansion of Premier Inn in the UK and internationally. Discussions with pension trustees and other relevant stakeholders are being conducted and an update on the amount and method to return proceeds will be provided in due course.

Whitbread focusing as the operator of Premier Inn in the UK and internationally

Following completion of the Transaction, Whitbread will be a focused hotel business with over 76,000 rooms in over 800 hotels in the UK, Germany and the Middle East, operating under the Premier Inn brand, with a committed pipeline of almost 20,000 rooms. Whitbread will also retain its 49% investment in Pure, a London-based healthy-eating quick service restaurant business with 15 stores.

Whitbread's strategic priorities will remain consistent with its existing strategy of:

1. continuing to innovate and grow Premier Inn in the core UK business;

2. focusing on Premier Inn's strengths to grow at scale internationally; and

3. enhancing the capabilities of Whitbread to support long-term growth.

Investor day planned for February 2019

Whitbread will hold a strategic update for institutional investors and equity research analysts in February 2019. It is expected that this investor day will focus on three core areas:

1. the structural opportunities Whitbread has to grow Premier Inn in the UK and internationally, through organic network expansion and acquisition, at a strong return on capital;

2. how Whitbread utilises, enhances and further invests in the unique Premier Inn model to access the structural opportunities; and

3. the capabilities, capital structure and property strategy required to enable Whitbread to take advantage of the attractive structural opportunities available.

1. Innovate and grow Premier Inn in the core UK market

· Total revenue growth of 2.6% to £1.1 billion driven by consistently strong capacity addition

· Profit from operations increased to £303 million through disciplined cost action

· Continued market-leading occupancy throughout the UK whilst adding significant new capacity

· Industry-leading direct distribution rate of 97%

* Like-for-like sales growth for H1 FY18 reflects refined definition

Over the past three years Premier Inn has added more than 14,000 new rooms in the UK, 2.5 times more than the combined total added by Travelodge, Holiday Inn Express and Ibis2. Alongside this material addition of new capacity, Premier Inn has held occupancy at industry leading levels of around 80%, increased the proportion of customers booking directly to 97% and held return on capital at around 13%.

Premier Inn's UK committed pipeline of new freehold and leasehold hotels currently stands at over 13,000 rooms. Combined with the current estate of over 74,000 rooms, Premier Inn has more than 87,000 rooms in the open and committed pipeline, with line of sight to 100,000 rooms. Premier Inn's network planning and property expertise have been paramount in delivering high quality new capacity at good returns. The skills and data available to Premier Inn enable the ongoing delivery of new capacity in attractive locations, without diluting return on capital once the hotel matures. Of the committed new room pipeline:

· 37% will be opened in catchments with no existing Premier Inn supply;

· 26% will be opened in catchments with limited Premier Inn supply; and

· 37% will be opened in catchments with higher Premier Inn supply but also higher demand such as London and city centres.

An innovative new format is being launched, "Zip by Premier Inn". Zip is a significantly different offer to the traditional Premier Inn and Hub formats and will attract a different customer segment. The essence of Zip is good quality, small, very simple rooms targeting a large segment of the market, which is currently underserved; the extra-value seeking customer. Importantly, these target customers do not currently stay at Premier Inn and are dissatisfied with their current options. By reducing the room size to 8.5m2 and carefully engineering the design and fittings, return on capital is expected to be comparable to the rest of the network, whilst offering highly compelling prices. The first Zip hotel is planned to be opened in Cardiff in the first quarter of 2019.

Premier Inn delivered good total accommodation sales growth of 4.8%, driven by additional capacity, whilst maintaining market leading occupancy of around 80%. The business to business market continued to be robust, but there was weaker consumer demand, especially in the regions where total accommodation sales increased 4.3%. In London, although the midscale and economy market³ RevPAR declined year on year, Premier Inn's total accommodation sales growth was strong at 7.2% following the 4,405 rooms that we have added over the last three years. Alongside significant network capacity growth, the disciplined approach to capital investments was maintained, resulting in return on capital remaining stable at around 13%.

A consistent and high-quality experience is vital to the overall Premier Inn customer offer. Many of Premier Inn's customers visit multiple hotels every year and value a consistent experience across the network of 795 hotels. Therefore, the ongoing refurbishment of rooms is critical to ensure consistency. Premier Inn now has 91% of its 74,070 rooms in the latest formats. Over the last 18 months, a lower-cost refurbishment model has been developed, which will enable Premier Inn to accelerate the rate of refurbishments in the future to maintain its leading customer proposition.

Core to Premier Inn's success has been its investment in digital capabilities. This began with re-platforming Premier Inn's core trading website, introducing a yield management system, investing in enhanced digital marketing capabilities and introducing a business-focused booking tool. As a result, the number of visits to Premier Inn's website has been maintained at around seven million visits per month. This contributed to the proportion of customers booking directly with Premier Inn remaining at an industry-leading level of 97% of total bookings.

2. Focus on Premier Inn's strengths to grow internationally

Premier Inn Germany | Expanding pipeline of new capacity to create a strong hotel network

The German hotel market is 35% larger than the UK and similar to the UK ten years ago and it is experiencing a structural shift from independent hotels to branded hotels. The branded budget hotel sector is the fastest beneficiary of this shift, but still only represents a 6% market share, compared to 24% in the UK. With only moderate growth expected from other brands, Premier Inn's strong quality and value credentials provide a long-term opportunity to establish a major hotel brand and develop a successful business of scale in this attractive market.

Given the scale and attractive nature of the opportunity in Germany, Whitbread accelerated the development of an organic new hotel pipeline and announced a significant acquisition of a portfolio of hotels. Together, the organic pipeline and acquisition will deliver 33 hotels, comprising 6,043 rooms across 15 key cities, by 2021.

This acquisition represents an important step in accelerating Whitbread's existing international strategy and in replicating Premier Inn UK's success and network scale in this key strategic market. Whitbread will continue to explore options to further accelerate growth in Germany, through a mix of freehold property developments, leasehold sites and acquisitions of small to medium existing hotel portfolios.

The transaction and consideration are conditional upon obtaining consent from landlords to rebrand the hotels and upon the termination of the franchise agreements with the current franchisor. This could take up to 18 months for the 13 trading hotels. The hotels being acquired will continue trading under their current brand, in advance of being converted to Premier Inn. The acquisition is expected to deliver returns in excess of Whitbread's cost of capital and be earnings enhancing the year after completion.

The pipeline of new capacity in Germany is now a mix of hotels to be acquired and the accelerated organic pipeline of new leasehold and freehold sites.

Premier Inn Middle East

Premier Inn in the Middle East continues to operate in tough market conditions, which reflect the level of new capacity being added in advance of the World Expo to be held in Dubai in 2020. Premier Inn has a productive partnership with Emirates, with a hotel opened last year in Doha, comprising 219 rooms, and plans for one further 389-room hotel in Dubai.

3. Enhancing Whitbread's capabilities to support long-term growth 

Whitbread is focused on securing the cost efficiencies needed to offset structural cost pressures in the hotel and coffee markets. Whitbread's property expertise underpins the consistent quality and competitive advantage enjoyed by Premier Inn, whilst Whitbread's technology skills have undergone a step-change as work is conducted to replace legacy systems and become an increasingly technologically-enabled and efficient business.

Winning teams

Owning and operating the UK's leading hotel operation enables superior attraction and retention of talented people. Following the sale of Costa to The Coca-Cola Company, Whitbread will continue to provide services to Costa under a transitional services agreement lasting 9-24 months, which will require Whitbread to retain certain central functions such as HR, IT, procurement and supply chain. Work has already begun to ensure Whitbread's teams reflect the support required by Premier Inn's operations in the UK and Germany.

Everyday efficiency

In 2016 Whitbread began a five-year programme to generate £150 million of efficiency savings and mitigate inflationary cost pressures. This programme has already delivered £141 million of savings from a combination of procurement benefits and shared services. During the first half of the year, £29 million of savings for continuing operations were achieved through structural reorganisation, hotel operations efficiency, procurement and supply chain savings and process re-engineering. Whitbread aims to generate a total of approximately £50 million of savings for FY19 for continuing operations, with a similar amount targeted for FY20, which will again help offset the significant inflation expected next year. Further detail on the ongoing opportunities available to Whitbread following the sale of Costa will be discussed at the planned Capital Markets Day.

Improving technology capabilities

Over the last three years, Whitbread has undergone a significant investment programme to improve the core infrastructure, internal support systems and customer facing systems in Premier Inn. This year includes enhancing our website technology, enabling an improvement in the customer booking journey and to being more agile in adapting our website to changing customer demands.

Further essential work still needs to be done to ensure a smooth separation of Costa from Whitbread, whilst retaining focus on the complex process of replacing legacy customer reservation and inventory management systems in Premier Inn and integrating the new hotels in Germany onto our platform in 2020.

A Force for Good

Whitbread's sustainability programme, Force for Good, was launched in 2017 with an ambitious vision to give back to the communities in which Whitbread operates, by supporting everyone, from guests to team members and suppliers, to live and work well.

Since launching the WISE (Whitbread Investing in Skills and Employment) programme in 2012, Whitbread has created over 10,000 employment opportunities, including more than 3,000 full time apprenticeships and 4,000 work experience placements.

Premier Inn has been supporting Great Ormond Street Hospital for several years. Team members have embraced the partnership with enthusiasm and have raised over £12 million. This has facilitated opening a new 'Premier Inn Clinical Building' this year, consisting of 140 beds and six operating theatres which has welcomed thousands of patients since opening in January 2018. Premier Inn has pledged to raise a further £10 million towards the building of a ground-breaking new sight and sound centre, which will provide a world class facility for children with sight and hearing problems.

Whitbread has led an alliance of out-of-home dining companies to launch a Code of Practice with a target to cut sugar by 20 per cent by 2020. The code is aligned to Public Health England guidance and pledges to reformulate recipes, provide a range of healthier options and run responsible promotions.

A partnership between Premier Inn and Cotton Connect was launched with 1,600 cotton farmers last year. The farmers and their families are benefitting from an enterprise which aims to transform the cotton industry for good by teaching them to farm more sustainably, reducing the impact on the environment and generate higher yields of cotton. On average, the farmers involved increased cotton yields and profits by 10% and 26% respectively, whilst reducing their chemical and water use.

Premier Inn is the largest hospitality company in Europe to set a science-based carbon reduction target. This target will see the business reduce its carbon emissions intensity by 50% by 2025. This builds on all hotels owned by Whitbread being powered by 100% renewable energy, and over 160 hotels have electricity generating solar panels.

The latest Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) has ranked Whitbread PLC as second in the European Travel & Leisure industry. This excellent result highlights the fantastic work that is taking place across the Force for Good programme and demonstrates Whitbread's commitment to continuously improve the work underway to become a more sustainable business.

Full Year 2019 Outlook

Whitbread has significant structural growth opportunities in the UK and internationally with confidence in its plans. Investment will continue in order to maintain Premier Inn's competitive advantages and to capitalise on these structural opportunities. In FY19, Premier Inn is expected to open 4,000-4,500 rooms in the UK and Germany, including two hotels comprising 379 rooms in Germany.

Given the recent economic and political environment, along with inflationary pressures in the consumer sector, there is a degree of caution on demand. The combination of our commitment to the investment programme and the current UK consumer environment naturally means our near-term profit growth may be lower than in previous years. However, Whitbread is confident that the ongoing efficiency programme can continue to offset a significant proportion of inflation over the short to medium term.

Ongoing disciplined allocation of capital and focus on executing Whitbread's plans will continue to win market share from the declining independent hotel sector in the UK and Germany, which will deliver sustainable growth in earnings and dividends and a strong return on capital over the long-term.

Financial review

Whitbread | Solid financial performance

· Revenue increased 2.6% to £1,079 million, reflecting continued capacity addition

· Total UK accommodation sales growth of 4.8% and like-for-like accommodation sales growth of 0.2% impacted by weaker consumer demand

· Underlying profit before tax increased in-line with sales by 2.5% to £270 million, supported by tight cost control and the benefit of the ongoing efficiency programme

· Profit from discontinued operations (Costa) increased 3.5% to £47 million

· Statutory profit before tax was maintained at £257 million

· Strong cash generation with discretionary free cash flow at £283 million

· Return on capital held broadly flat at 12.4% despite pace and timing of new capacity

Profit growth | Good sales growth and disciplined cost control underpins profit growth

*Statutory profit for the period from Costa

Profit from discontinued operations

On 31 August 2018, Whitbread announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell Costa to The Coca-Cola Company, subject to shareholder approval and certain regulatory approvals. As a result, at the balance sheet date Costa was held for sale and is accounted for as a discontinued operation in H1 FY19. The profit from the discontinued operations increased by 3.5% to £47 million. During the first half of the year in a tough UK retail environment, Costa increased revenue and statutory profits, alongside further investment in expanding the store estate in the UK and China, and further expansion of the Costa Express business.

Continuing operations performance | Market share gains at attractive return on capital

· Total Premier Inn revenue increased 2.6% to £1,079 million

· UK accommodation total sales growth of 4.8%, outperforming the midscale and economy market³

· Operating margins remained constant, delivering profit from operations of £303 million

· Return on capital of 13.0%, alongside 5.8% increase in room capacity

During the first half of the year, Premier Inn increased revenue by 2.6% to £1,079 million. Profit from operations grew in-line with revenue to £303 million (H1 FY18: £295 million). This result was enabled by the ongoing efficiency programme, which delivered a benefit to underlying operating margins of 280 basis points. These efficiency savings, combined with the benefit of sales growth, ensured inflationary pressures, together with additional rent, impacting underlying operating margins by 260 basis points, were offset.

Premier Inn has delivered consistently high occupancy of around 80% in the UK over the past few years. Given the opportunity to win market share from the fragmented independent hotel market, Premier Inn has continued to focus on adding capacity to maximise total accommodation sales growth. This has been achieved whilst delivering both consistent operating margins and delivering an attractive return on capital of around 13%.

Premier Inn's focus on total accommodation sales growth has consistently delivered market share gains over the last decade, which continued during the first half of the year. In London, Premier Inn grew total accommodation sales by 6.3% in the first quarter and 8.0% in the second quarter, significantly outperforming the midscale and economy hotel market3. Outside of London, Premier Inn increased total accommodation sales by 3.8% in the first quarter and 4.7% in the second quarter, again outperforming the midscale and economy hotel market 3, but by a lesser degree. This was supported by robust demand for business travel, offset by weaker consumer leisure travel demand.

Like-for-like sales growth from Premier Inn's multi-format food and beverage offering decreased during the first half of the year by 2.6% (H1 FY18: 0.8%). This was due to weaker consumer demand, together with the sporting events and warmer than expected summer months, which favoured competitor formats with greater availability of outdoor capacity and stronger drink-led offering.

Over the last year, Whitbread completed the restructuring of its international Premier Inn operations. This included the sale and exit of hotel operations in India, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. This successful exit reduced underlying operating losses to £(1) million (H1 FY18: £(2) million). The Premier Inn business in the Middle East is operated through a joint-venture with Emirates and accounted for accordingly. Continuing planned investment in Germany will result in a loss of c.£6 million in Germany this year.

Net finance costs

Underlying net finance costs for the first half of the year were £2 million higher than last year at £16 million (H1 FY18: £14 million). Total net finance costs were £20 million (H1 FY18: £20 million) including the non-underlying IAS19 pension finance charge of £3 million (H1 FY18: £5 million).

Taxation

Underlying tax† for the first half of the year increased by £1 million to £53 million, with an effective tax rate of 19.8% (H1 FY18: 19.9%). Statutory tax expense increased £1 million to £53 million.

Earnings per share

Full details are set out in Note 6 to the accompanying financial statements.

Dividend

The Group's dividend policy is to grow the dividend broadly in line with earnings across the cycle. An interim dividend of 32.7 pence per share (H1 FY18: 31.4p), an increase on last year of 4.0%, amounting to £60 million, was declared by the Board on 22 October 2018. Full details are set out in Note 7 to the financial statements. The dividend will be paid on 14 December 2018 to all shareholders on the register at the close of business on 9 November 2018. Shareholders will again be offered the option to participate in a dividend re-investment plan.

 Cash generation | Consistent & strong to fund investments

 *Underlying operating profit from continuing and discontinued operations

Cash generation remained strong in the year with cash generated from operations increasing to £455 million (H1 FY18: £441 million) whilst converting 82% of profit from operating activities into discretionary free cash totalling £283 million. This discretionary free cash flow was used to fund Whitbread's pension contributions of £46 million, dividend payments of £128 million and expansionary capital expenditure of £150 million.

Capital investment | Compelling opportunities to invest at a strong return on capital

Cash capital and investment expenditure during the first half of the year was £268 million (H1 FY18: £269 million).

Investments in new and extended hotels mature over a 1-3 year period and deliver return on capital above 13%. Maintenance capital expenditure in Premier Inn is essential to ensure consistent, high quality rooms across the estate which is a key driver of repeat direct business. In the last two years, £469 million has been invested in expanding the UK network with a further £100 million invested in the organic pipeline in Germany and International. Capital expenditure for Premier Inn Germany does not reflect any amounts for the recently announced agreement to acquire a portfolio of hotels, which will be paid on completion of the transaction, which is expected to be in February 2020.

The pace of investment in new Costa stores and Costa Express machines continued, with capital expenditure in discontinued operations in-line with last year at £56 million.

Capital discipline | Asset-backed balance sheet provides flexibility

In recent years, Whitbread has held its ratio of lease-adjusted net debt to EBITDAR at round 3.0, below a maximum target of 3.5. This level ensures that Whitbread retains its strong financial position and has access to a broad source of funds at attractive rates, in order to take advantage of freehold property and acquisition opportunities as they arise, such as the recently agreed acquisition in Germany. This level of leverage also ensures that Whitbread retains a strong covenant for further leasehold expansion in the UK and Germany. Whitbread is currently reviewing the optimal capital structure required to support development of Premier Inn in the UK and Germany, following the expected sale of Costa to The Coca-Cola Company. Further detail will be provided at Whitbread's Capital Markets Day to be held in February 2019.

Sufficient headroom in debt funding facilities is also in place to finance short and medium-term requirements, with total committed facilities of approximately £1.8 billion, compared to net debt as at 30 August 2018 of £881 million. Committed debt facilities include US Private Placement loans of £432 million (at the hedged rate), a £450 million bond and a syndicated bank revolving credit facility ("RCF") of £950 million which has been extended to September 2022.

Pension

As at 30 August 2018 there was an IAS19 pension deficit of £162 million. The reduction in deficit over the half year of £127 million was primarily due to deficit contributions of £46 million, a change in financial assumptions of £44 million and return on plan assets greater than the discount rate of £43 million.

Following the triennial review undertaken at 31 March 2017, a recovery schedule of cash contributions totalling £397 million was agreed. The payment schedule is £85 million per annum for FY19 to FY22, with a final contribution of £57 million in FY23. Until the next valuation, to the extent that ordinary dividends increase by more than 5% per year, contributions will be accelerated at a rate in line with dividend growth, less 5%. Additional contributions to the pension fund of c.£10 million per year will continue to be made through the Scottish Partnership arrangements.

Return on capital | Consistently earning a strong premium to cost of capital

There is currently £326 million of capital invested for future openings. This has an impact on Whitbread's reported return on capital of (120)bps.

Other information

Going concern

A combination of the strong operating cash flows generated by the business and the significant headroom on its credit facilities supports the Directors' view that the Group has sufficient funds available for it to meet its foreseeable working capital requirements. The Directors have concluded that the going concern basis remains appropriate.

Risks and uncertainties

The directors have reconsidered the principal risks and uncertainties of the Group and these remain largely unchanged from those reported on pages 54 and 55 of the Annual Report and Accounts 2017/8 and include: Cyber and Data Security; Innovation and brand strength; Change; Economic Climate; Retention and wage inflation; Pandemic/Terrorism; Food safety and hygiene; health and safety and Third party arrangements. The risk of a wider macro-economic effect as a result of the UK leaving the EU, including foreign exchange and interest rate fluctuations, is addressed by the Group's Economic Climate risk. The Change risk referenced the potential impact of the proposed demerger of Costa and these risks continue to be equally applicable to the sale of Costa to Coca-Cola. A full description of the risks relating to the sale are set out in Part 2 of the proposed sale circular. Going forward any potential areas of risk will continue to be closely monitored and evaluated.

Supplementary information

Further information is available in Microsoft Excel from: www.whitbread.co.uk/investors/results-reports-and-presentations. This information includes:

· Premier Inn network data;

· Premier Inn sales, profit and return on capital information;

· Comparison of Premier Inn UK sales performance to market trends;

· Group income statement; and

· Lease commitments.

American Depositary Receipts

Whitbread has established a sponsored Level I American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programme for which Deutsche Bank perform the role of depositary bank. The Level I ADR programme trades on the U.S. over-the-counter (OTC) markets under the symbol WTBDY (it is not listed on a U.S. stock exchange).

Rounding

Certain financial data contained in this document have been rounded and accordingly may not add up to 100 per cent. As a result of this rounding, the totals of data presented in this document may vary slightly from the actual arithmetic totals of such data. Where applicable, year-on-year growth percentages have been calculated from the financial data presented in the half year accounts, which are reported to one decimal place.

Notes

†The performance of the Group is monitored internally using a variety of statutory and alternative performance measures (APMs). APMs are not defined within IFRS and are used to assess the underlying operational performance of the Group and as such these measures should be considered alongside IFRS measures. APMs used in this announcement include like-for-like sales, underlying operating profit, underlying profit, underlying basic earnings per share, net debt, return on capital, fixed charge cover, and discretionary free cash flow. For full definitions please refer to the glossary at the end of the document.

Responsibility statement We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:a) The condensed set of financial statements, which has been prepared in accordance with IAS 34, gives a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the issuer, or the undertakings included in the consolidation as a whole as required by DTR 4.2.4R;b) The interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by the Financial Statements Disclosure and Transparency Rules (DTR) 4.2.7R - indication of important events during the first six months and their impact on the financial statements and description of principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the year; andc) The interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.8R - disclosure of related party transactions and changes therein.By order of the Board

Interim consolidated income statement

1 Prior period income statement has been restated to reflect the impact of treating Costa as a discontinued operation. Refer to Note 5 for details.

Interim consolidated statement of comprehensive income

Interim consolidated statement of changes in equity

6 months to 30 August 2018 (Reviewed)

6 months to 31 August 2017 (Reviewed)

Year to 1 March 2018 (Audited)

Interim consolidated balance sheet

Interim consolidated cash flow statement

Notes to the accounts

1. Basis of accounting and preparation

The interim condensed consolidated financial statements were authorised for issue in accordance with a resolution of the Board of Directors on 22 October 2018.

The interim condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with UK listing rules and with IAS 34 'Interim Financial Reporting'. The interim financial report does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of section 434 of the Companies Act 2006.

The financial information for the year ended 1 March 2018 is extracted from the statutory accounts of the Group for that year and does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in Section 435 of the Companies Act 2006. These published accounts were prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as adopted for use in the European Union, and reported on by the auditor without qualification or statement under Sections 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006 and have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies.

The interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the six months ended 30 August 2018 and the comparatives to 31 August 2017 are unaudited but have been reviewed by the auditor; a copy of their review report is included at the end of this report.

A combination of the strong cash flows generated by the business, and the significant available headroom on its credit facilities, support the directors' view that the Group has sufficient funds available for it to meet its foreseeable working capital requirements. The directors have concluded therefore that the going concern basis of preparation remains appropriate.

The accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the interim condensed consolidated financial statements are consistent with those followed in the preparation of the Group's annual financial statements for the year ended 1 March 2018 except for the adoption of new standards and interpretations that are applicable for the year ended 28 February 2019.

IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers

The Group adopted IFRS 15 on 2 March 2018 using the cumulative catch-up ('modified') transition method with the effect of initially applying this standard recognised at the date of initial application. Accordingly, the information presented for comparative periods has not been restated and is presented, as previously reported, under IAS 18, IAS 11 and related interpretations.

IFRS 15 provides a single, five-step revenue recognition model, applicable to all sales contracts, which is based upon the principle that revenue is recognised when control of goods or services is transferred to the customer. It replaces all existing revenue recognition guidance under current IFRS.

IFRS 15 has not had a material impact on the accounting policy for recognition of revenue for any of the revenue streams of the Group. Accordingly no separate presentation of its impact on the financial statements is presented.

IFRS 9 Financial Instruments

The Group adopted IFRS 9 on 2 March 2018 prospectively. Accordingly, the information presented for comparative periods has not been restated and is presented, as previously reported, under IAS 39.

IFRS 9 covers the classification, measurement and derecognition of financial assets and financial liabilities, together with a new hedge accounting model and a new expected credit loss model for calculating impairment of financial assets. It replaces of IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement.

IFRS 9 has not had a material impact on the accounting policy for the recognition of financial assets and liabilities including derivative financial instruments. Accordingly no separate presentation of its impact on the financial statements is presented.

Discontinued operations

In accordance with IFRS 5 'Non-current assets held for sale and discontinued operations', the net results of Costa Limited and related subsidiaries (collectively referred to as 'Costa') are presented within discontinued operations in the Group Income Statement (for which the comparatives have been restated) and the assets and liabilities of these operations are presented separately in the Group Balance Sheet. Refer to Note 5 for further details.

2. Segmental analysis

For management purposes, following the agreement to dispose of Costa (refer to Note 5) the Group is organised into a single strategic business unit, Premier Inn, which provides services in relation to accommodation and food both in the UK and internationally. As a result, comparative period segmental information has been restated.

The UK and International Premier Inn segments have been aggregated on the grounds that the international segment is immaterial.

Management monitors the operating results of its strategic business units separately for the purpose of making decisions about allocating resources and assessing performance. Segment performance is measured based on underlying operating profit.

The following table presents revenue and profit information and certain asset and liability information regarding business operating segments for the six months to 30 August 2018 and 31 August 2017 and for the full year ended 1 March 2018.

3. Non-underlying items

(a) During the period, the Group made a net gain of £2.1m from development profit on sale and leaseback transactions and disposal of sites previously held for sale, offset by impairment losses on hotel sites transferred to assets held for sale of £0.7m.

(b) During the period the Group has undertaken a significant operational restructure, incurring costs of £3.6m in relation to staff redundancy and consultancy costs. This reorganisation will continue in the second half of the year.

(c) During the period the Group incurred costs relating to the demerger/disposal of Costa. These costs represent both transaction costs relating to the agreement to sell Costa to Coca-Cola as well as separation costs.

4. Finance (costs) / revenue