28th Nov 2013 10:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - British brewer and pub operator Marston's PLC Thursday reported increased revenue and a swing back to a pretax profit for the year ended October 5, recovering after being forced to take GBP223.3 million in exceptional charges last year.
Marton's also said it has seen an encouraging start to the year, with like-for-like sales up across the business estate. It said that like-for-like sales in its destinations and premium pubs were up 3.1% in the 7-weeks to November 23, including like-for-like food sales growth of 4.6%.
Sales from its managed and franchised pubs were up 2.1% on a like-for-like basis, while profits from its leased pubs are in line with last year.
For the year ended October 5, Marston's reported a pretax profit of GBP69.8 million, compared with a loss of GBP135.5 million a year earlier, when it booked GBP223.3 million in exceptional costs from an impairment of its freehold and leasehold properties.
During the recent year, the group incurred an exceptional charge of GBP18.6 million, mostly associated with GBP10.8 million in restructuring costs to both its pub estate and its operating segments. Marston's reported a net profit of GBP58.6 million, compared to a loss of GBP110.3 million the prior year.
Revenue increased by 8.8% to GBP782.9 million, from GBP719.7 million a year before, Marston's said.
In its destination and premium pubs division, the group said that strong sales and profit growth were driven by new-build investment, including 22 new pubs opened during the year.
As part of its strategy to aggressively sell off its lower-end pubs, Marston's announced Thursday that it had sold 202 pubs for GBP90 million to NewRiver Retail Limited, a real-estate investment trust focused on the UK food and value-retail sector. The disposal includes 158 community pubs and 44 leased pubs.
"This disposal will enable us to reduce the cost of servicing our securitised debt, is consistent with our strategy and improves the quality of our estate. It will also assist with financing the accelerating rollout of our new-build pub-restaurants which are achieving good returns," said Marston's Chief Executive Officer Ralph Findley in a statement.
Martson's said that it remains on target to achieve disposal proceeds of between GBP60 million and GBP70 million per year in 2014 and 2015, mainly from its Taverns estate.
Marston's shares were down 2.2% Thursday morning, at 151.70 pence per share.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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