Whitbread's Richard Baker tops up

published 22 June 2011

Non-executive director Richard Baker has added to his holding in the Costa Coffee and Premier Inn hotels group Whitbread, splashing out more than £50,000 despite a mixed trading update from the company.He paid 1,573p a time for 3,186 shares and now has 8,152. It is his first purchase of shares since July last year, when he snapped up 3,478 at 1,438.8p a pop.The rise in Whitbread's share price between his two purchases reflects strong trading that has been underpinned by the value offering of both of the company's main businesses. Baker's latest purchase comes the day after a broadly positive update from Whitbread amid a continued strong performance from Costa and Premier Inn benefitting from the resilient economy in London. Of more than 500 Premier Inn hotels in the UK, 79 are in the London area.Whitbread's restaurants, which include the Beefeater Grill and Brewers Fayre, are suffering from "a more difficult casual dining market" in the provinces, the company said."We are confident that investing in our strong brand propositions of Premier Inn and Costa and introducing further value offers in Restaurants will enable us to win market share and deliver good returns for our shareholders," said Whitbread.Baker, who has been the chief executive of Alliance Boots, the owner of the Boots chemist chain, and chief operating officer of supermarket group Asda, joined Whitbread in 2009.Top Director BuysF&C Asset Management (FCAM) Director name: Mr Edward BramsonAmount purchased: 84,000 @ 72.79p Value: £61,144Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) Director name: Mr Mark E. VernonAmount purchased: 3,000 @ 1,905.21p Value: £57,156Amec (AMEC) Director name: Mr Neil Carson Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 1,104.00p Value: £55,200Whitbread (WTB) Director name: Mr Richard Baker Amount purchased: 3,186 @ 1,573.00p Value: £50,116International Ferro Metals Group (IFL) Director name: Mr John BallardAmount purchased: 200,000 @ 14.80p Value: £29,600F&C Asset Management (FCAM) Director name: Mr Edward BramsonAmount purchased: 40,000 @ 73.29p Value: £29,316Restaurant Group (RTN) Director name: Mr Simon ClokeAmount purchased: 8,000 @ 295.10p Value: £23,608Top Director SellsJupiter Fund Management (JUP) Director name: Mr John Chatfeild-RobertsAmount sold: 2,778,993 @ 240.00p Value: £6,669,583Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) Director name: Mr Edward Bonham CarterAmount sold: 555,103 @ 240.00p Value: £1,332,247Derwent London (DLN) Director name: Mr Nigel Q GeorgeAmount sold: 29,438 @ 1,822.00p Value: £536,360Derwent London (DLN) Director name: Mr John David BurnsAmount sold: 18,954 @ 1,822.00p Value: £345,342Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) Director name: Mr Matteo Dante PerruccioAmount sold: 20,000 @ 240.00p Value: £48,000