(Reuters) -Whitbread, the owner of UK hotel chain Premier Inn, on Wednesday named Dominic Paul, the boss of the British franchisee for U.S.-based Domino's Pizza (NYSE:DPZ), as its new chief executive.
51-year-old Paul, leaves London-listed Domino's Pizza Group at a time when the UK firm is firefighting sky high inflation after hedging itself against wheat prices which have soared due to the Ukraine conflict, while Whitbread (LON:WTB) navigates rising costs and labour shortages.
Paul returns for a second stint at Whitbread in early January - he previously served as CEO at Whitbread's coffee chain Costa Coffee ahead of its sale to Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) in 2019 - succeeding Alison Brittain, who will retire at the end of the firm's 2023 fiscal year.
"Dominic is the an obvious choice as he is a veteran in this industry," said Richard Clarke, analyst at Bernstein.
"What is interesting is that Dominic come from Domino's, which operates as a franchise model, and we know Whitbread has not been successful as a franchisee except in the Middle East," added Clarke.
Under Paul's tenure, shares of Domino's have fallen about 15%, while Whitbread shares have lost more than 37% since Brittain took over as chief in September 2015.
Domino's said its board was starting a process to identify Paul's successor and shares of the company slipped 6% after Wednesday's announcement.