watch now
Britain's biggest hotel and coffee shop operator Whitbread said on Tuesday its chief executive Andy Harrison would retire by next February as it posted a better than expected rise in full-year profit.
Harrison, who has grown Whitbread considerably since joining in September 2010 from easyJet will become Chairman of British homewares retailer Dunelm on July 7 this year.
Whitbread said it had started the search for a replacement.
Whitbread, which runs Costa Coffee, Premier Inn hotels and pubs such as Brewers Fayre, said on Tuesday pretax profit for the year to Feb. 26 was 488.1 million pounds ($744 million), up 18.5 percent on a year ago and ahead of an average forecast of 478.7 million.