Whitbread PLC on Wednesday named Domino’s Pizza Group PLC’s Dominic Paul as its new chief executive, as incumbent Alison Brittain plans to retire after seven years with the company.
Shares in Whitbread were down 1.7% to 2,597.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning, meanwhile Domino’s shares were 5.8% lower at 291.57p each.
Paul will join the hotel company in January next year, from FTSE 250-listed pizza delivery chain Domino’s, where he has been CEO since May 2020.
Whitbread said that Paul is already ‘well known’ to the company. Prior to his role as Domino’s CEO, Paul was CEO of the coffee shop chain Costa Coffee Ltd for three years, before it was sold by Whitbread to the Coca-Cola Co in 2019. During this period, Paul was also a member of the Whitbread executive committee.
Chair Adam Crozier said: ‘We are delighted to welcome back Dominic to the group as our new chief executive. Following an extensive search and thorough evaluation of high quality candidates we are confident Dominic’s great track record of growing and transforming consumer brands in the UK and internationally will help to lead Whitbread in the next stage of the group’s development.’
Outgoing Whitbread boss Brittain joined the Premier Inn owner in 2015, becoming the sixth female CEO of a FTSE 100-listed company.
Whitbread said that Brittain guided the company ‘brilliantly’ over the last seven years. Notably, she helped develop and then sell Costa Coffee in a £3.9 billion deal with Coca-Cola. She also established Whitbread’s German arm, and led the company through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Brittain plans to retire from full time executive life at the end of financial year 2023. Whitbread rounds off its financial year in late February.
Domino’s, meanwhile, has commenced the search to find Paul’s successor.
The company added that it expects annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization, as well as earnings per share, in line with current market expectations.
Domino’s will report interim results on August 2.
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