Business
Q3 FY21 Trading Update
Q3 FY21 Trading Update.
About this update from Whitbread Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n \n RNS Number : 6221L\n Whitbread PLC\n 14 January 2021\n \n \n \n \n \n \n Q3 FY21 Trading Update\n 14 January 2021\n \n \n \n Market share gains in the UK and expanding estate in Germany despite challenging market conditions\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Q3 summary (13 weeks to 26 November 2020)\n \n \n \n \n \n · \n Government COVID-19 restrictions continued to create very challenging hotel market conditions\n \n \n · \n As a result, total UK accommodation sales were down 55.2% with occupancy at 49.3%\n \n \n · \n Despite this, a resilient operational performance resulted in:\n \n \n o \n the vast majority of our hotels remaining open during the quarter\n \n \n o \n Premier Inn UK's total accommodation sales performance being 8.9pp ahead of the M&E market1 with total market share growth of 4.1pp to 11.4% 2\n \n \n · \n Continued focus on operational excellence, health and safety measures, efficiencies and managing cashflows\n \n \n · \n Accelerated estate growth in Germany, with an open and committed hotel pipeline now at 68 hotels following the successful completion of the acquisition of 13 hotels from the Centro Group\n \n \n · \n Cash outflow for the quarter was in line with previous sensitivity guidance\n \n \n · \n The Group is well positioned to continue its outperformance versus the market and to emerge in a strong position in the long-term\n \n \n Current operational and financial position\n \n \n \n \n \n · \n Improved demand for business travel, and some leisure travel, resulted in\n the majority of \n our UK hotels remaining open during the first half of\n December, \n with demand levels falling\n as the Government's tier restrictions tightened\n in the second half of December and through into the New Year\n \n \n · \n Following the updated UK Government restrictions announced on 4 January 2021, that only permit essential business and keyworker accommodation, around two-thirds of our hotels remain open, while all our restaurants are closed\n \n \n · \n With the increased restrictions, total UK accommodation sales were down 66.4% for the 5 weeks to 31 December 2020 with occupancy at 31.1%\n \n \n · \n 21 of our 29 operational hotels in Germany remained open but under severe restrictions, and therefore similar to the overall German hotel market, re...