Options open after Whitbread regeneration

One more deal and the transformation of Whitbread will be complete. The former brewer and pub owner is moving towards a future as a focussed leisure brand owner, with real international potential. Having sold off a large slice of its pub restaurants and now its stake in Pizza Hut, the final loose end to tidy-up should be the sale of its TGI Friday restaurant interests. One irony is that once it extricates itself from the Fridays' licence deal, Whitbread will look a lot like Fridays' US owner Carlson. Carlson is an international brand owner whose portfolio includes Radisson and Park Plaza hotels, TGI Fridays and Pick Up Stix restaurants and a number of holiday cruise businesses. Whitbread may be a little more modest in scale, but it still boasts Premier Travel Inn, already the UK's biggest hotel brand, Costa coffee and David Lloyd Leisure on its team sheet - all with international roll-out potential either through direct management, franchise or joint ventures. The Carlson model will be familiar to Whitbread chief executive Alan Parker. It's the model that most global hotel businesses operate and Parker is a long-standing hotel man, having run Marriott for Whitbread. Like Carlson, Whitbread also operates outside the mainstream lodging market. Parker has done a good job knocking Whitbread into shape. It could be argued that he has even been ruthless, selling off all its pub restaurants not integral to the Premier Travel Inn operation, rather than giving his pub management team more time to turn the business around. There is clarity about the new Whitbread model, and the transformation has been accomplished with some speed. The core principles seem to be that the group wants to be in growing markets and most importantly to own its own brands. In Premier Travel Inn it has a real star, a UK brand with a big international future. In April it announced a joint venture to launch the brand in the Gulf, with an initial three sites earmarked for Dubai. The first will open next year. Costa is arguably already the biggest success story among UK eating-out brands on the international stage. Whitbread recently announced expansion plans into China with a joint venture partnership covering Shanghai and Eastern China. David Lloyd may have more of a question mark over it, but it is well-placed to profit from the current consolidation in health and fitness. So what next for Whitbread? More organic growth is the obvious answer, but acquisitions will also be on the agenda. Reports in this Sunday's press suggest it is being excluded from the auction for Permira's Travelodge business for fear its presence would deter other bidders. However, if it wants it enough, Whitbread will remain in the picture, if on the sidelines. It has the cash and operational synergies to make the deal work. Whitbread may have shed most of its restaurant interests, but that doesn't mean that it won't look at casual dining or fast casual acquisitions in the future - especially if the concepts have proven international track records or obvious overseas potential. Of course, Whitbread has been the subject of takeover speculation of its own, with US hotel group Starwood the latest to be put in the frame as a potential suitor. Whitbread and PTI would be an obvious attraction. A hotel sector deal would likely herald the break-up of the group. Like all chief executives Alan Parker would surely like to see Whitbread build on the platform he has established, but in the end it's all down to creating shareholder value. If a sale maximises that, so be it. Whatever the final outcome, Parker looks like he was secured his legacy as more than just a “safe pair of hands”. Peter Martin is founder of Peach Factory