DAVY VIEW

While Whitbread’s Q3 trading was soft, management did confirm that FY 2019 results will be “in-line with expectations”. However, the weaker FY 2020 outlook is likely to gain the most attention (conference call good and bad points below). Also as expected, detail on cash proceeds from the sale of Costa was deferred until its Capital Markets Day on February 13th (other topics: structural opportunities, capital structure, property strategy, Germany). Lastly, its £500m share buyback programme will start today (January 17th) also.