Whitbread group plc plans £3.9 million investment in north west, creating 240 new jobs

Note: annual results were issued 7.00am Wednesday 1st May 2002 WHITBREAD GROUP PLC PLANS £3.9 MILLION INVESTMENT IN NORTH WEST, CREATING 240 NEW JOBS On the day it publishes its annual results Whitbread Group PLC, the leisure business, has announced over £3.9 million of planned investment and 240 new jobs in the North West over the next 12 months. Capitalising on the impact of the Commonwealth Games and the 8% growth in the pizza market1, Whitbread Group is to open six new Pizza Hut restaurants in the region. There are over 470 Pizza Huts in the UK, employing 18,000 people. Pizza Hut continues to grow at a rapid rate whilst maintaining its position as market leader in Britain's £1.9 billion pizza market. £937K investment in Greater Manchester 40 new jobs will be created with the opening of a new Pizza Hut restaurant at a total cost of nearly £1m. £1.4m investment in Southport and Speke in Merseyside A further two Pizza outlets will be opened in Southport and Speke, which together will create around 80 new jobs in the area. £511k investment in Preston, Lancashire There is a new Pizza Hut planned in Preston, which is costing £511k and creating 40 jobs for the area. £1.1m investment in Cheshire Whitbread is investing £558K in Pizza Hut in Runcorn creating 40 jobs in the local area and £559K in a Pizza Hut in Warrington creating a further 40 jobs Peter Bech, Whitbread's regional director for the North West, said: "Whitbread is major player in the leisure industry, operating in three major growth markets - hotels, restaurants and active leisure - and is leader in all three. Our strategy focuses on building dominant brands, like Travel Inn in the budget hotel sector, David Lloyd Leisure in health and fitness and Costa and Brewers Fayre in the restaurant sector all of which have shown strong growth over the past year. Our major focus for investment in the North West is in Pizza Hut. There will be an increasing number of tourists to the area as a result of the Commonwealth games in the summer and something we have taken on board as a focus in the short term. In the longer term the pizza market will continue to expand at a consistent pace. Whitbread is leading the field in attracting new talent into the leisure industry and the planned investment in the region underlines our commitment to creating job opportunities in the North West." -ends- Press contact: Sarah Jaconelli/Sarah Harris 020 7539 2684/020 7539 2796 Notes to editors Whitbread Group PLC in the North West: Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire Whitbread Group PLC currently has 36 Travel Inns, three Marriott hotels and six David Lloyd Leisure clubs in the North West. It also has over 120 restaurants. Whitbread Group PLC employs over 6,000 people in the North West. Whitbread Group PLC Whitbread Group PLC is the leisure business, employing 70,000 people in leading brands in the hotel, restaurant and active leisure markets. Whitbread Hotel Company is the fastest-growing hotel company in the UK, operating the highly successful Marriott and Travel Inn brands. Whitbread Restaurants is the country's largest restaurant operator with over 1,300 outlets, a six per cent share of the market and household names like Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Pizza Hut and Costa. David Lloyd Leisure is the nation's favourite sports, health and fitness club brand and looks after the health and fitness needs of over 280,000 members. Whitbread no longer brews beer or owns pubs. 1 Meal Trak out of home, period end 12th March 2002 (Taylor Nelson: % of volume by sector, MAT) ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/05/02/20020502BIT01640/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/05/02/20020502BIT01640/wkr0002.pdf