Britain's No. 1 coffee shop, Costa Coffee, should remain subsidiary of Whitbread to ensure global expansion, according to Costa Coffee executive

Nevin Barich

LOS ANGELES , January 23, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) – Britain’s No. 1 coffee shop, Costa Coffee, should remain a subsidiary of Whitbread Plc to ensure Costa’s global expansion, Reuters reported on Jan. 20.

Costa has 40% of the market share in Britain’s coffee shop market, with Starbucks trailing Costa. Worldwide, Costa operates 2,100 stores, making the company the world’s No. 2 coffee shop chain behind Starbucks.

Despite recent speculations regarding Costa demerging from Whitbread, Costa’s Managing Director John Derkach said Costa should remain a subsidiary of Whitbread so the company can continue to expand internationally. Costa plans to operate 3,500 coffee shops by 2016.

The value of Costa’s stand-alone business has been estimated to be more than £1 billion (US$1.6 billion).

The primary source of this article is Reuters, New York, New York, on Jan. 20, 2012.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.