Bernstein upgrades Whitbread, hails increased flexibility

Bernstein upped its stance on shares of Premier Inn owner Whitbread on Thursday to 'market perform' from 'underperform' as it hailed the company's increased flexibility.

The bank said Whitbread's half-year results earlier this week showed that "flexibility is not dead".

"Unit growth is set to slow, exists will accelerate and they are looking to innovation to deliver growth," it said. "Talk of optimising the existing portfolio and perfecting the property base is music to our ears."

It said that this messaging, along with limited valuation downside to its target price - which was cut to 4,000 from 4,200p - prompted the move to neutral.

Whitbread posted a drop in first-half profit on Tuesday as like-for-like accommodation sales in the UK fell amid "challenging" market conditions.

At 1300 BST, the shares were down 0.8% at 4,148p.