Whitbread shares surge amid talk that Costa and Premier Inn divisions could be split

Shares in Whitbread, the firm behind Costa Coffee and Premier Inn, have soared more than 7% on reports of growing pressure to split itself in two.The FTSE 100 company's market value took off on Monday after the activist investor, Elliott Advisors, confirmed over the weekend that it had become Whitbread's largest shareholder with a 6% stake.According to Reuters, it is the second US-based hedge fund to have taken a significant stake in recent months on hopes they can urge Whitbread to demerge the