DUNSTABLE (dpa-AFX) - Shares of Whitbread plc (WTB.L) were losing around 3 percent in the early morning trade in London after the British restaurant company reported Tuesday that its second-quarter and first-half total sales were significantly lower than last year, hurt by closure of the vast majority of its hotels and restaurants for a large part of the period amid Covid-19 restrictions.
Looking ahead, the company said market demand is expected to remain at lower levels in the short to medium-term.
Based on this, the company has now intends to enter into consultation on proposals that could result in up to 6,000 redundancies, representing 18 percent of total workforce.
A significant proportion of these redundancies are expected to be achieved voluntarily.
The company added that it is close to completing a process that will result in a reduction of head office headcount by approximately 15 percent-20 percent.
In its trading update, the company reported that total sales, comprising UK & International, fell 74.5 percent in the second quarter and 76.8 percent in the first half.
Both accommodation and Food & Beverage declined significantly.
In the UK, total sales declined 75.2 percent in the quarter and like-for-like sales was down 75.6 percent.
In the UK, the vast majority of hotels and restaurants were closed from the end of March, and reopened by the first week of August. A total of 801 hotels, representing 98 percent of total UK capacity, were open by the end of August.
Since reopening, UK accommodation sales performance has been ahead of the market.
Performance trends in Germany mirrored the UK, with strong demand and occupancy levels in tourist locations. In August, total sales were over 300 percent ahead, boosted by the acquired Foremost hotels, while occupancy recovered to 54 percent.
Regarding the current trading, the company said trading in the first two weeks of September saw year-on-year total accommodation sales remain ahead of the market.
In London, Whitbread shares were trading down 2.6 percent at 2,054 pence.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX