Whitbread, the hotels, restaurants and health club group, said today that sales at its core Marriott hotels had fallen by 4.7% since 1 September and confirmed plans to sell its Bella Pasta, Café Rouge, Abbaye and Mamma Amalfi restaurant chains.

The 4.7% drop in like-for-like sales at Marriott came as the chain’s London hotels suffered a 24.6% sales slump. But this was offset by a 3.9% increase in the provinces.

Whitbread stressed that only 10% of its profits were generated in London. “The rest of the country continues to trade satisfactorily,” it said.

The company has immediately put on ice capital expenditure of £60m in its hotels division and said it would cut operating costs by £10m in the 2002-2003 financial year.

Projects on hold include a new Marriott hotel in Leicester, due to open in 2003, and the conversion of part of Whitbread’s old brewery in Chiswell Street, in the City of London, into Marriott long-stay apartments.

Cost cutting will include the loss of about 120 hotel jobs in London, and grouping hotels into “clusters” of 2-4 properties to share human resources, property and financial support. This will lead to about 180 jobs being lost.

In restaurants, Whitbread said that a number of smaller branded chains including Bella Pasta, Café Rouge, Abbaye and Mamma Amalfi lacked sufficient potential. They will be put into a separate division and sold off “in due course”.

The restaurants are valued at £50m in Whitbread’s accounts.

Exact financial comparisons with last year are difficult because Whitbread has sold off its brewing interests, its pubs and its off-licences over the past two years, as well as buying the Swallow hotel chain.

Overall turnover was down by 35% to £1.14b and pre-tax profit before exceptional items was down by 25% to £135.7m during the six months to 1 September.

But the company said like-for-like sales for the “future Whitbread” businesses were up by 4.2%. Operating profit was up by 10.1%.

At the Marriott and Swallow hotels, sales were up by 1.8% to £203.7m, with like-for-like sales up by 1.3%. Operating profits were up by 5.7% to £42.4m. Achieved room rate grew by 3.3% to £83.34.

Sales at Travel Inn were up by 9.3% to £87.9m, while like-for-like sales rose by 3%. Operating profits were up by 9.4% to £31.5m.

Occupancy in like-for-like hotels was 86% and achieved room rate increased by 4.2% to £38.09.

In pub-restaurants, sales were £299.1m, representing like-for-like growth of 4.5%. Operating profit was up by 10% to £44.2m, driven by Brewers Fayre, where it grew by 18%. Operating profit at Beefeater fell by 8.5%.

High-street restaurants recorded sales of £237.1m, with like-for-like growth of 2.7%. Pizza Hut was the best performer, with a 6.9% increase in like-for-like sales.

Like-for-like sales were up by 6.2% at Costa, 2.8% at TGI Friday’s and by 1.4% in the Pelican restaurants division.