LEISURE giant Whitbread said its Costa Coffee business continued to thrive after a 42% jump in the division’s half-year profits.

Costa benefited from the opening of new stores and the introduction of new drinks, such as a wider range of iced coffees and the roll-out of coffee machines at motorway service stations.

Underlying profits at Costa totalled £27.8m in the six months to September 1 after it opened its 2,000th store, including its 100th in China.

The strong performance of Costa and a 5% rise in like-for-like sales at budget hotel chain Premier Inn helped Whitbread lift underlying pre-tax profits by 15% to £174.9m.

In Huddersfield, Costa has branches at New Street, Kingsgate and the Odeon cinema. It is set to open another at Spindlegate, Leeds Road.

It also has Premier Inn hotels at Ainley Top, Aspley and Brighouse.

The group said its performance continues to fluctuate month-by-month – while the consumer environment remained “challenging”.

Whitbread said it aims to double the size of its Costa coffee business in the next five years and increase the number of Premier Inn rooms in the UK by 50%.

The group said its expansion plans are on course. It will have created 2,500 new jobs by the end of its financial year.

Costa opened 167 new stores in the half year, 85 of which were in the UK. It aims to bring the number of Costa outlets to 3,000 over the next five years.

Its performance was boosted by a 44% increase in sales of its Iced Cold Costa range to £12.4m, while it has also introduced a Costa Light offer, which has fewer calories and less caffeine.

Costa also bought Coffee Nation earlier this year, which operates 900 self-service vending machines in service stations. It is rebranding the machines under the Costa Express banner and aims to have opened 250 new outlets in the second half of its financial year.

Whitbread said a broader range of rates helped Premier Inn attract more business and leisure customers. The number of rooms sold rose by 7% to 6.3m – boosted the opening of 11 hotels in the period.

The strong performance of Premier and Costa helped offset a sales decline at its pub restaurants business, which has suffered as customers cut back on spending.