WHITBREAD, the leisure group, has raised the prospect of job cuts among the 800 staff at its Luton headquarters as part of a corporate restructuring after its acquisition of Premier Lodge and the sale of Marriott hotels in Britain.

The group, whose brands include David Lloyd Leisure, Costa and Premier Travel Inn, said that it planned to streamline head office services such as human resources and IT. It would also shed 16 senior executives, equal to 20 per cent of its management team.

Under the restructuring, all of the group’s brands will share IT, communications, property and human resources services, rather than having their own separate teams.

Alan Parker, the chief executive, said: “This new structure will eliminate duplication between the corporate centre and the brands, improve the speed and efficiency of our operations and reduce costs.”

Whitbread said it was too early to say how many jobs would go as a result of the overhaul, but planned to give a more detailed explanation at its interim results next month.

The company is trying to reposition itself as an operator of budget hotels through the disposal of the upmarket Marriott hotels and the planned sale of its stake in the Britvic drinks business.

Whitbread confirmed that it plans to sell its 255-year-old Chiswell Street brewery site in the City of London for £55 million, slightly higher than initial estimates and above its book value. The site is being bought by Earls Court and Olympia Group, the exhibition centre owner.

Whitbread, which has not brewed beer at the site since 1976, used it for its head office before converting it into a conference and banqueting centre. Earls Court and Olympia said that it planned to spend a “considerable” amount of money on refurbishing it.

The brewery’s sale forms part of a planned disposal of £1.3 billion of assets, of which £800 million is being returned to investors, largely through share buybacks.

Whitbread has already paid £400 million via a special dividend, and this month Chris Rogers, the finance director, announced plans to buy back £400 million worth of shares over the next two years, £150 million more than had been expected. Shares of Whitbread touched six-year highs above £11 this year after it announced plans to sell the Marriott hotels, but have since tumbled on falling consumer confidence. The shares closed up 8½p to 955½p yesterday.

The company continues to be seen as a target for private equity groups seeking to break it up and sell off the parts, with firms including CVC and Cinven touted as possible bidders.

Mr Parker, who joined Whitbread last summer, recently moved to shore up City confidence in the company by ousting the head of its struggling David Lloyd Leisure division and boosting the amount of cash he plans to return to shareholders. Stewart Miller was replaced with Mike Tye, head of Whitbread’s Premier Travel Inn business.

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