The owner of the Premier Inn hotel chain is looking to raise £1 bn from shareholders to strengthen its finances as the budget hotel operator warned its UK sites could be closed or barely occupied until September.
Whitbread said that in the past seven weeks, revenues from accommodation and food and beverage had fallen by 99% in the UK and warned that it might not make a profit in the year ahead.
CEO Alison Brittain said that the equity raising would allow the group to go through the difficult times ahead, but also to take advantage of cheap investment opportunities as the coronavirus crisis recedes.
Brittain said: ‘We want to invest in the business without being cautious about it and we think there are going to be very significant opportunities to do that. A lot of people will struggle with either cash flow or profit.’
In the year ended 27 February, Whitbread reported a 1.1% rise in revenues to £2.1 bn and underlying pre-tax profit of £358 mln.
Whitbread has already secured waivers on its debt covenants until 2022 and has £1.55 bn of undrawn credit.
