Whitbread inks £26m outsourcing deal with CSC

Whitbread has extended its IT outsourcing deal with CSC with a new £26m contract that will run through to 2012.

As part of the new deal Whitbread, whose brands include Beefeater, Costa, Premier Travel Inn and TGI Friday's, will use offshore application support from India.

CSC will also continue to provide support for Whitbread's desktops, data centres, email, internet and intranet.

Ben Wishart, group IT director at Whitbread, said the new contract is more flexible to take into account the "significant change" the company has undergone in terms of acquisitions, divestitures, integration and growth.

He said in a statement: "After a thorough review of our operations, we felt that the previous contractual arrangements were fit for a different Whitbread and that change was required."

Whitbread has outsourced its IT to CSC since 2000.