Interim Results
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
· 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
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