Simon English, Evening Standard The hotels, restaurants and coffee shop group saw sales in the past six months up 12.6% to £682m. Like-for-like sales are still rising at a pace - 7% - taking profits up 24% to £123m. Chief executive Alan Parker slimmed down the sprawling business under pressure from private equity, offloading assets such as the David Lloyd Leisure clubs well before the downturn. With consumers looking to cut costs, the Premier Inn budget hotel arm has been particularly successful, while Costa Coffee is booming. On the face of it, Costa Coffee appears to be the brand most vulnerable to the slumping economy, though there were no signs fans were cutting back. There is less traffic on the High Street in general, but Costa is opening in motorway service stations and airports. It now has 800 stores in the UK. The...
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