Whitbread to axe 1,500 jobs

Premier Inn owner Whitbread at to cut 1,500 jobs in the UK and will close over 200 branded restaurants to build more hotel rooms.

The move will “optimise” Whitbread’s food and drink offering and as result of the closures more than 3,500 hotel rooms will be added to increase “operational efficiencies.”

They plane to sell 126 less profitable branded restaurants and 21 have already been sold then 112 restaurants will be converted into hotel rooms.

Chief executive Dominic Paul said, “We recognise that our transition will impact some of our team members so we will be providing support throughout this process and we are committed to working hard to enable as many as possible of those affected to remain with us.”

He added, “We also have made sure that we balance our business overall. What we’ve announced today will increase our profits and returns, and that’s also important for our people, because it enables us to continue to invest in our people within the business.

“We are a public company, so we also need to think about our shareholders. Our capital returns policy, of dividends and share buybacks, is within that context.”

The FTSE 100 firm also announced in the year ending 29 February pre-tax profits of £452 million up 21% compared to the year before.