The market really did not like the third-quarter trading update from Whitbread and it is not immediately apparent why. There are four potential reasons, though. First, the shares, as the graph shows, have been extraordinarily strong since late last year and a so-so update might be taken by investors as a good enough reason to take some profits rather than to increase their holdings.
Second, there is a puzzling lack of any outlook statement. The third-quarter figures run to December 1 and therefore miss out the Christmas period that should have been good for Costa, the coffee chain, as shoppers refreshed themselves; for Premier Inn, as they popped up to town for that shopping; and even for the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants attached to