Whitbread CEO Alison Brittain believes a split between the group’s hotel and coffee shop businesses is inevitable, according to the Sunday Times.
The news comes ahead of the company’s annual results announcement on Wednesday, when Brittain (pictured) is expected to set out her position.
Last week, hedge fund Elliott Advisors became the second activist investor to call for Whitbread (WTB.L) to split its Premier Inn hotel chain from the Costa Coffee business.
The report said unnamed sources believed she was not “philosophically opposed” to a split, and regarded such a move as a case of “when, not if”.