HOTELS and leisure group Whitbread, which last month sold its Samlesbury brewery as part of a a £400million deal with Belgium company Interbrew , has said sales for the first quarter of this year were ahead of the same period last year.
The group said the sales rise had been helped by contributions from its leisure club chains Racquets and Healthtrack, which it has bought over the last year.
A contribution from hotels group Swallow, which Whitbread bought in January, also helped figures.
Whitbread has spent the last decade focusing increasingly on its leisure brands, which include the Marriott and Travel Inn hotels and the Brewers Fayre, Beefeater and Hogshead pubs and restaurants.
It also owns the Costa coffee chain and the David Lloyd Leisure centres.
The change in focus was behind last month's sale of its 258-year old brewing business, which brews Boddingtons beer and the Flowers and Fuggles Imperial ales.
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