Whitbread serves up a mixed cocktail

OVERPRICED burgers and milkshakes at TGI Friday have contributed to sliding profits at brewer-turned-leisure company Whitbread.

The company served up a mixed cocktail today of burgeoning budget hotel growth tempered by a performance from its restaurants as flat as one of its Pizza Hut pizzas.

The company admitted at its annual meeting that much of its food service had gone off. Like-for-like sales at its Brewster pub restaurants are on the slide as it attempts to attract back punters put off by too many screaming kids.

Sales at Pizza Hut are struggling too. New chief executive Alan Parker blamed this on lowerfootfall at shopping malls where many of its restaurants are located.

Even at David Lloyd Leisure, the health clubs operation which is traditionally one of Whitbread's better performers, business is flat, and it is having to play about with pricing to attract members.

On the credit side, Premier Lodge hotels saw like-for-like growth of 8.2% and there was a strong performance from Costa Coffee cafes on the High Street.

Group like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to 2 June were up 1%. Whitbread shares, buoyed in recent weeks by talk of venture capitalists wanting to break up the company, fell 9p to 906½p.