Cost-conscious companies and consumers have boosted sales at Whitbread's Premier Inn budget hotels and Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pub restaurants. The leisure group, which also runs Costa coffee shops, has emerged as a beneficiary of the credit crunch as Britons find ways to economise on travel and eating out. The shares jumped 6% to £11.88 in early trading and later traded up 37p at £11.57, a rise of 3.3%.

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