Hello Share Pickers. You don’t hear much about shareholder perks these days. But one company still handing out discounts to its investors is Whitbread (WTB). Staying at one of its Premier Inns, they and the family get a free breakfast. Which isn’t, of course, a good reason to buy the shares.
Another exciting day in the markets, although at least today they are up…until we see what the central banks on either side of the Atlantic have to say for themselves over the next 24 hours or so. All good fun (as always). Meanwhile two workable updates today from Whitbread (WTB) and WH Smith (SMWH)...
How are your domestic holiday plans for this year? Given all the airport hassles, what could be nicer than a holiday in the (no doubt rainy) UK? I am sure Premier Inn owner Whitbread (WTB) would completely agree with such thoughts. So, does that make the stock cheap?
Another busy Thursday during the global corporate earnings season. Three names are of particular interest to me today…
When I last looked, Whitbread (WTB) shares were in the top ten of my personal pension fund positions. I have been a fan at various levels for years, having enjoyed the share price bump after Coca-Cola purchased the company’s Costa unit at a decent multiple to take a decent profit, and then invested it back into the share when the Premier Inn owner decided to raise some money back during the 2020 COVID-19 uncertainties. I may not have made it one of my formal two tips of the year during the Christmas holidays, but I am still hopeful of a return to a c. 40 quid share price as I discussed back in June last year. So what do I make of its Q3 update today?
Hello Share Turners. The seesaw impositions of Covid restrictions and the easing of them has predictable effects on the economy. So we should be able to see immediately which Footsie share prices will rise this week and which won't? But no. We need to research educated guesses about much later developments in the Covid saga.
Naturally you have to think carefully about every share in the travel sector at the moment. Earlier this week I wrote why I thought On The Beach (OTB) was wholly uninvestable HERE. By contrast I still own shares in Carnival (CCL) and, as I talked about last month HERE, I will even get back to making a bit of profit on my holding if the shares go up another couple of quid and there was an announcement today that its ‘ultra-luxury cruise line’ brand Seabourn would depart for both the Greek Isles and the Southern Caribbean next month. Certainly there is a bunch of older (and richer) people who look forward to their next trip soon. My top sector holding in the travel and related space though is Whitbread (WTB).
Whitbread (WTB) is a share I have owned successfully for a while and noted back in January here that I still targeted a 4000 pence share price. Whilst the shares have moved up from 3050 pence in early January, today they are down 4% or so at 3260 pence. Still workable but why has the Premier Inn, Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Table Table owner fallen back a couple of quid plus since the high of the year?
Hello, Share Poolers. This old punter has Whitbread shares. It owns the Premier Inn, so must have suffered mightily during the lockdowns. As they’re gradually clawing back some of their old values, I won’t sell them. But once the present rising trend gives way to any weakness, I’ll probably let go. Nor will I buy any shares in the hospitality game probably for some time.
Obviously I am a complete sad-o at many levels, one of which includes my love of taking the family to stay at a Premier Inn Hotel. Sadly, taking a trip to a different part of the country has been slightly tricky in the last year for obvious reasons but hopefully it is all going to be a bit different in six months time or so. The update today from Premier Inn owner Whitbread plc (WTB) admitted to a few challenges but leaves me optimistic still on the shares, even if their move over the last six months has gone from near twenty quid a share to today’s level of over thirty-one quid a share.
In the wider scheme of things, no huge surprises in today's first half numbers from Premier Inn owner Whitbread (WTB). You will recall my history with this one – I took big profits thanks to the largesse of Coca-Cola in buying Costa at a material premium (how's that one working out I wonder?), but then backed the rights issue and even - last time - observed I would increase my stake even further at twenty quid a share. I did not get that opportunity but market moves and shifts might still give me that opportunity as pandemic angst continues. Today's update builds on the bare bones of the trading update I wrote up a month or so ago at the link above...
Back in July I observed why worrying about an 80% like-for-like revenue decline at Premier Inn owner Whitbread (WTB) was not an investment-stopping concern for me. I even concluded that, buoyed by the monies raised from this year's rights issue, 'I retain my decent sized position and ceteris paribus would add more at around twenty quid'. We will come back to that latter observation later. But today's first half trading update (for the six months to the end of August) does show a little improvement...
Regular readers will recall I cheered Coca-Cola's largesse in splurging on the Costa Coffee chain from Whitbread (WTB) and hence when the company wanted some of those distributed returns back a month or two ago to invest into its Premier Inn hotel range, I was supportive – observing that 'a crisis is an opportunity and with many hotels struggling to survive, Whitbread pounds (or in Germany euros) can go a long way in terms of locations'. And it certainly is a general crisis...
