London, Oct 13 - Whitbread , Britain's biggest hotel and restaurant operator, reported a better-than-expected first-half pretax profit on Tuesday after sales at its Costa Coffee chain rose by over 20 percent.
The growth at Costa Coffee helped partially offset falling revenues at its budget Premier Inn chain and pub restaurants business, which includes the Beefeater chain.
Whitbread, whose brands also include Brewers Fayre, Table Table and Taybarns, reported a 2.7 percent decline in underlying pretax profit to 118.2 million pounds ($186.6 million) for the six months to Aug. 27.
The consensus forecast had stood at 113 million pounds, according to a poll of 7 analysts supplied by the company.
"Whitbread's value for money brands have considerable appeal for today's price conscious customers. We remain confident about the outturn for the year," said Chief Executive Alan Parker.
The group is paying an unchanged interim dividend of 9.65 pence per share.
Shares in Whitbread closed at 1,290 pence per share on Monday, valuing the group at 2.2 billion pounds.