20th Sep 2018 09:38
LONDON (Alliance News) - City Pub Group PLC on Thursday said it swung to profit in the first half of its financial year, helped by new pub openings and warm weather in the summer.
The pub operator said it swung to a GBP931,857 profit in the 26 weeks to July 1 compared to a GBP78,186 loss reported for the same period in 2017, as revenue rose 24% to GBP20.0 million from GBP16.1 million.
These results were achieved through acquisitions and investments made in 2017 and organic growth across the rest of the estate.
Following admission to AIM in November last year, City Pub's ambition was to double the size of the estate by mid-2021 to between 65 and 70 pubs. As at July 1, the company said it had 42 pubs now trading and a further 4 sites in development.
The company also said it benefited from the good weather across the summer and its wet-led sport pubs from the World Cup.
Looking forward, the company said it expects to increase its trading estate to 50 pubs by mid-2019.
"The strategic expansion of our high-quality drink-led estate has been key to the strong progress we have made in the first half," said Executive Chairman Clive Watson.
"The momentum from the first half has continued into the second half and in the eleven weeks since July 1 we have seen sales increase by 24%," added Watson.
Shares in City Pub were trading 2.5% lower on Thursday at 237.90 pence each.
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