Group sales climbed 9.2 per cent to £1.58bn, driven by Premier Travel Inn, where like-for-like sales grew by 7 per cent. Meanwhile, its arch rival Travelodge, which is owned by Permira, unveiled a 19 per cent rise in first-quarter total sales and the chief executive Grant Hearn affirmed his strategy of aggressively undercutting Premier Travel Inn. Permira is in the middle of appointing advisers from a shortlist of UBS, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup to advise on a possible £1bn sale or flotation of Travelodge.The Costa Coffee shops also sparkled, with an 8.9 per cent rise in like-for-like revenues. Whitbread plans to double their number to more than 1,000 by 2010.However, operating profits at the long-suffering pub restaurants were down 12 per cent at £64.9m.

Whitbread parted company yesterday with the division’s managing director Phil Urban, who struggled to reverse sales declines despite new menus and off-peak meal deals, and replaced him with Costa’s head, Mark Phillips. The Beefeater chain is seeing some recovery, benefiting from menu additionssuch as the Beefeater Steak & Lobster. The high street restaurants continued to disappoint with flat sales, leading the company to say that it would review its investments in the TGI Friday’s and Pizza Hut brands. Pizza Hut is a 50-50 joint venture with Yum Brands while TGI Friday’s in the UK is licensed from Carlson.The health club chain David Lloyd Leisure suffered a 16 per cent fall in operating profits to £41.3m but Mr Parker said he was encouraged by record membership levels.Whittling down the estateSOLDMarriott HotelsFOR SALE250 Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pub restaurantsTotal pub restaurant sales last year: £605mUNDER REVIEWTGI Friday’s – £92.1m salesPizza Hut – sales n/aSTAYING IN THE GROUPPremier Travel Inn – sales £407.8m371 pub restaurants located at Premier Travel Inn sitesCosta Coffee – £143mDavid Lloyd Leisure – £224.6m sales. The Transport and General Workers’ Union warned yesterday that Scottish & Newcastle’s new distribution joint venture with a Swiss freight group will put 1,500 jobs at risk.

Britain’s biggest brewer announced it would outsource the distribution of its Foster’s, Kronenbourg and John Smith’s beers from breweries to pubs and retailers over to Kuehne +Nagel for an initial period of 10 years. S&N expects annual cost savings of £5m and will receive a net payment of £30m from the joint venture.
Under the deal, 1,900 drivers, draymen and warehouse workers at S&N will join the Swiss logistics group and transfer to the new venture, called KN Drinks Logistic, joining with 1,000 Kuehne +Nagel staff.The T&G said it had not been consulted properly on the plan, but S&N insisted all 1,900 jobs were safe.John Dunsmore, the head of the brewer’s UK operations, said: “There won’t be any job losses amongst the 1,900, amongst their membership.” He stressed the venture was not primarily about cost-cutting but about business development, as it would seek new contracts with other drinks groups to distribute their products. He said the venture could attract regional brewers and other suppliers to pubs, such as food and soft drink makers.”We’re a business that wants to build brands and sell beer. Distribution is best done through a specialist world-class logistics company,” Mr Dunsmore said.However, the T&G’s national organiser, Brian Revell, said: “Our members have co-operated with substantial changes in work to keep distribution in-house. This action by the company is a slap in the face to them after all that effort, and certainly means the company has no idea how to keep its side of the bargain.”Talks are scheduled with the company this week to negotiate safeguards for the S&N workers.