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| Whitbread buys Coffee Nation vending machines | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Hotel and restaurant group Whitbread has bought the Coffee Nation brand with a view to launching a self-service coffee machines, Costa Express. | |
| Whitbread, which already owns Costa Coffee, is paying £59.5m for the brand, which operates 900 coffee machines. | |
| The group said it would aim to open 3,000 Costa Express vending machines across the UK over the next five years. | The group said it would aim to open 3,000 Costa Express vending machines across the UK over the next five years. |
| Whitbread also said like-for-like group sales rose by 3.9% in the 11 weeks to 17 February against a year earlier. | Whitbread also said like-for-like group sales rose by 3.9% in the 11 weeks to 17 February against a year earlier. |
| Like-for-like sales strip out the impact of sales from stores open less than a year. Total group sales rose 12.4%. | Like-for-like sales strip out the impact of sales from stores open less than a year. Total group sales rose 12.4%. |
| Whitbread said Coffee Nation "self-serve bars" were "fundamentally different" from traditional hot drink vending machines because they used fresh milk and freshly-ground coffee. | |
| "Customers increasingly want great tasting coffee on the go, which makes the self-serve coffee market very attractive," said Whitbread chief executive Andy Harrison. | "Customers increasingly want great tasting coffee on the go, which makes the self-serve coffee market very attractive," said Whitbread chief executive Andy Harrison. |
| Costa Coffee has 1,850 outlets around the world, with 1,200 in the UK. | Costa Coffee has 1,850 outlets around the world, with 1,200 in the UK. |
| Whitbread also owns the Premier Inn hotel chain and Beefeater restaurants. | Whitbread also owns the Premier Inn hotel chain and Beefeater restaurants. |