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Whitbread

WTB.L
53
Travel Lodging · Consumer Cyclical
Also trades as: WTBCF
Price
2,424.00 GBp
-6.00 (-0.25%)
Market Cap
£4.05B
Exchange
London Stock Exchange
Winston Score
53
Winston is curious
Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.
Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Feb 28, 2026
How the score breaks down
Quality
Good
Growth
Weak
Cash Flow
Strong
Stability
Good
Valuation
Strong
Dividends
Strong

Share count falling — buybacks

14.3% over 4y

The company has reduced its share count over this period, returning value to shareholders through buybacks.

Diluted shares outstanding: 202.9M (2022) → 173.9M (2026)

Winston Score History

The full picture

Whitbread is a British hospitality company that owns and operates Premier Inn, the largest hotel brand in the UK by number of rooms. It serves everyday travelers — both leisure and business guests — who want affordable, reliable accommodation. Whitbread sold its Costa Coffee chain to Coca-Cola in 2019 and now focuses entirely on budget hotels and attached restaurants.

The company earns money by renting hotel rooms and selling food and drinks at its on-site restaurants, mainly under the Beefeater and Bar + Block brands. Whitbread operates primarily in the UK, with a growing presence in Germany where it is expanding Premier Inn aggressively. Its main competitive advantage is scale — it has more budget hotel rooms in the UK than any rival, giving it strong brand recognition and cost efficiency. The key growth story is Germany, where the budget hotel market is more fragmented, but building out that network requires heavy capital spending, which is the main financial risk to watch.

Score breakdown

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Quality

Profit per sale
Gross Margin
48.1%
Healthy — 48.1% gross margin
Profit after running costs
Operating Margin
16.8%
Healthy — 16.8% operating margin
Return on the money invested
ROCE
15.3%
Strong — 15.3% return on capital

ROIC between 15% and 25%. Every dollar invested in the business earns 15 to 25 cents back per year.

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Growth

Sales growth
Sales YoY
-0.1%
Shrinking sales (-0.1% YoY)
Profit growth
EPS YoY
-13.1%
Earnings shrinking (-13.1% YoY)

Earnings per share down more than 10%. Either a bad year, or a real decline.

How steady the profit is
EPS Consistency
4/8 quarters
Earnings inconsistent quarter-to-quarter

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash
Cash Conversion
354%
Turns 354% of profit into real cash
Spare cash per sale
FCF Margin
3.4%
Thin free cash flow (3.4%)

FCF margin between 0% and 10%. Some cash from sales, but not a lot.

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns
Debt / Equity
0.30
Conservative — low debt load (0.30)
Covers its interest
Interest Cover
3.09x
Tight — interest eats into profit (3.1x)

Interest coverage between 3 and 8. Profits cover interest several times over.

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Valuation

Price vs profit
P/E Ratio (TTM)
19.9x
Fair value — P/E 19.9

P/E in the normal range. Price is roughly $15 for every $1 of yearly profit.

Cheaper or dearer next year
P/E vs Forward
+8.5
GROWING
Earnings expected to grow meaningfully — cheaper on forward P/E (19.9 → 11.4)

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Dividends

Dividend
Dividend Yield
3.94%
Moderate income — 3.94% yield

Standard yield zone for stable dividend payers. A meaningful piece of total return.

Dividend record
Dividend Growth
+13.3%
Dividend growing fast (13.3% YoY)

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