Whitbread to Close All 261 Restaurants to Focus on Premier Inn Hotels

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โดย TheStreet·GB·Read original
Summary · why it matters

Whitbread, the operator of restaurant chains including Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Bar + Block, Table Table, Whitbread Inns, and Cookhouse + Pub, has announced plans to close all of its 261 restaurants as part of a strategy to become a pure-play hotel business centered on its Premier Inn brand. The closures began on September 3 with the shutdown of the Bar + Block steakhouse chain, followed by the closure of 32 Table Table and 14 Cookhouse + Pub locations that same day, 89 Brewers Fayre sites on September 7, and 106 Beefeater restaurants on September 10. Whitbread CEO Dominic Paul cited significant cost increases in business rates and national insurance, as well as an implied market discount to inherent value, as reasons for the move, which will cut approximately 3,800 roles from its 30,000-strong UK and Ireland workforce and reduce food and beverage sales by up to £160 million and profits by £10 million. Of the 261 sites, 53 have been sold to Queensway Inns, which plans to relaunch them as a new chain of value pubs, while about 600 additional Premier Inn rooms will be created by converting some locations, and the remainder are expected to be sold as going concerns. Whitbread also plans to offload £1.5 billion of freehold properties, reducing its owned property portfolio from 50% to 30%.

Impact on stocks 1

Consumer Discretionary▼ · 1 stocks
Whitbread PLC
WTB
▼ NegativeCapitalrelevance

Whitbread is closing all 261 restaurants, cutting ~3,800 roles and up to £160m F&B sales and £10m profit, while offloading £1.5bn of freehold property to become a pure-play Premier Inn hotel business.

Off-coverage companies 1

Queensway Hospitality Group LtdPrivate▲ Positive
Capitalrelevance

Queensway Inns is buying 53 of the 261 restaurant sites and plans to relaunch them as a new chain of value pubs.

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