Whitbread is adding £400m of debt to its balance sheet to make it more efficient. Most of the money raised will be paid to shareholders.

The group, which owns the Premier Travel Inn hotel chain and the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pub-restaurant chains, announced the decision following a review of its capital structure which began in October. The review also included a revaluation of its hotel and restaurant properties at £3.6bn on an existing use basis, which has not been reflected in the balance sheet.