The chair of Severn Trent, the FTSE-100 water company, is to add to her portfolio of directorships by taking the helm of Whitbread, the Premier Inn-owner.
Sky News has learnt that Christine Hodgson has been selected as the preferred candidate to replace Adam Crozier as Whitbread’s chairman.
City sources said her appointment could be announced as early as next week.
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Ms Hodgson is said to have seen off competition for the post from Andrew Martin, chair of the testing and inspection group Intertek.
Mr Crozier, who has chaired the leisure group since 2018, is expected to step down later this year.
Ms Hodgson has some experience of the leisure industry, having served on the board of Ladbrokes Coral Group until 2017.
Under Mr Crozier’s stewardship, Whitbread has been radically reshaped, selling its Costa Coffee subsidiary to The Coca-Cola Company in 2019 for nearly £4bn.
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The company has also seen off an activist campaign spearheaded by Elliott Advisers, while Mr Crozier orchestrated the appointment of Dominic Paul, its chief executive, following Alison Brittain’s retirement.
It said last year that it sees potential to grow the Premier Inn network from 86,000 UK bedrooms to 125,000 over the next decade or so.
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The company has also been exploring the sale of some of its pub and restaurant operations.
On Thursday, shares in Whitbread were trading at around £28.41, giving the company a market capitalisation of about £4.8bn.
Whitbread declined to comment.
