Whitbread CEO plays down economic recovery talk -Times

LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Whitbread chief executive Alan Parker said he believed talk of a widespread economic recovery was premature and that the group will continue to reduce spending and cut costs, according to a Times interview on Tuesday.

Whitbread, which owns hotel chain Premier Inn and the Costa coffee-shop brand, had yet to see substantive signs of improvement, according to its chief executive.

"I'd say we're bumping along the bottom. There's good news and bad news but overall we're not seeing any green shoots," Parker told the Times.

Parker also commented that there were a number of people in the running to succeed him as chief executive, but that he had no immediate plans to retire.

Whitbread released flat H1 profits on Monday, but said it expected full-year performance to come in at the higher end of market expectations. [ID:nL0464670] (Reporting by William James; Editing by Kim Coghill)