Whitbread to close Beefeater restaurants, fund £40m shift to hotels
Whitbread plans to spend £40 million closing its Beefeater restaurants as it pivots to growing its hotel business. The company booked a £40 million FY27 transition cost and expects adjusted pretax profit to fall by £40 million. Loyalty points end and vouchers stop after Aug 31. It forecasts hotel returns by FY31 while flagging execution risks, including redundancy costs.