Whitbread plc is planning a major expansion of its Taybarns fixed-price restaurants after the chain performed well in its first full year of trading. At present the brand has seven outlets in Wales, the Midlands and north of England but Whitbread hopes to open a further 20 branches around the country. Six of the current restaurants are on converted Brewer's Fayre pub sites. The company is looking at converting other existing Whitbread-owned sites-possibly incorporating branches into Premier Inn hotel sites-and acquiring new land during the expansion. The 20 new restaurants are expected to open over the next two-and-a-half years.

Whitbread plc said that the company is on the look out for acquisition opportunities. Alan Parker CEO of Whitbread Plc said, “Acquisition opportunities. We see acquisition opportunities very much in the, what we call in the bolt-on area. We're not looking at anything to go outside of our existing area of competence. Having said that, we have very strong brand standards and one of the things which is a big restriction for us in looking at any acquisition is the amount of capital which may be required to convert, for example to Premier Inn. So the opportunities are fairly limited I would say.”

Whitbread plc reported earnings results for the six months to August 27, 2009. For the period, the company's net profit rose 81% to £73.6 million ($116.3 million) as revenue grew 3% to £703.3 million. The company reported that excluding a one-off tax charge a year earlier and other exceptional items, pretax profit was down 10.4% to £110.5 million. Declining revenue at its hotels and restaurants business was partially offset by a 20% rise in sales at its Costa coffee chain. Revenue per available room at the Premier Inn hotel chain was down 9.2%, but outperformed an 11% drop for the broader hotel industry.