Costa profits rise by 21pc despite summer slowdown The chain, which has 1,664 stores in Britain and more than 1,000 worldwide, posted a 20.5pc increase in first-half underlying profits on Tuesday morning, as an expansion drive topped up sales. However, an expansion drive both in the UK and abroad helped to lift total revenue by 21pc to £378.8m. Costa has opened 185 new outlets in the UK in the last year and now has 800 more than Starbucks, while it recently opened its 1,000th store. The figures came as Costa's parent company Whitbread, which also owns the Premier Inn hotel chain and restaurants including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, posted a 12.6pc rise in underlying profits. The figure ignores variables such as pension costs and other factors. Like-for-like sales at Premier Inn increased by 3.3pc, and Whitbread said room occupancy had risen to 80.3pc while the number of rooms available rose by 8pc to 53,039. The restaurants business, which has been less successful than Costa or Premier Inn, saw flat like-for-like sales. For the group as a whole, Whitbread saw like-for-like sales growth of 2.8pc, a 12.4pc rise in revenue to £1.14bn and underlying profits of £216.1m. Chief executive Andy Harrison said the first half had been "another good performance with double digit growth." "This good first half performance puts us on track to deliver this year's business plan and we remain on the right trajectory for our 2016 and 2018 growth milestones," he said. Our combination of strong organic growth, good returns on capital and strong cash flow should continue to create substantial shareholder value.