Young & Co’s Brewery has announced interim results for the 26 weeks ended 28 September 2015, in which it reports a very strong performance for the half year driven by organic growth from the well-invested estate and good contributions from recent acquisitions.
Revenue is up 8.3%, despite tough comparatives and PBT is up 10.3% at £20.3m, with the Managed House division contributing LFL revenue growth of 5.5%, the fourth consecutive year of interim growth above 5%. The hotels division continued to show strong momentum, with the 475 rooms delivering occupancy of 78.5%, which drove RevPAR up 5.6%.
Net debt is down £3m, despite further investment of £21.8m in the business. The dividend has increased by 6.1% to 8.38p per share, the 19th consecutive year of dividend growth. Trading since the period end has been strong, with pubs, in south west London in particular, having generated good business from both local and visiting rugby fans and Managed House total sales for the first six weeks up 13% and 9.6% on a LFL basis.
Stephen Goodyear, Chief Executive of Young’s, commented:
“We are very pleased to report another six months of excellent trading, with particularly strong growth from our managed estate despite tough comparatives and more variable weather over the summer months. Our well-invested and well-located pubs, premium product range and the energy and dedication of our teams are crucial to this success. In addition we continue to see the benefit from a number of newly refurbished pubs providing excellent contributions to the success of the first half.
“The second half will benefit from a full contribution from five recent acquisitions including most recently the Canonbury in Islington and the Grocer in Spitalfields Market, two scheduled new openings and the re-opening of a number of our London pubs currently under development.
“Momentum has continued into the autumn. Many of our pubs, in south west London in particular, have a deep rooted rugby heritage and have thrown themselves into the World Cup. Despite England’s early demise, they have generated good business from both local and visiting rugby fans alike.”
| 2015 | 2014 | % | |
| £m | £m | Change | |
| Revenue | 126.3 | 116.6 | +8.3 |
| Adjusted operating profit* | 23.1 | 21.3 | +8.5 |
| Operating profit | 22.3 | 21.7 | +2.8 |
| Adjusted profit before tax* | 20.3 | 18.4 | +10.3 |
| Profit before tax | 19.5 | 18.8 | +3.7 |
| Adjusted basic earnings per share* | 33.59p | 30.00p | +12.0 |
| Basic earnings per share | 32.76p | 30.41p | +7.7 |
| Interim dividend per share | 8.38p | 7.90p | +6.1 |
Highlights
Very strong performance for the half year driven by organic growth from well-invested estate and good contributions from recent acquisitions;
Revenue up 8.3% despite tough comparatives;
- Profit before tax adjusted for exceptional items, up 10.3% at £20.3 million;
- Managed house like-for-like revenue growth of 5.5%, the fourth consecutive year of interim growth above 5%;
- Strong momentum in hotels, with the 475 rooms delivering occupancy of 78.5%, driving RevPAR up 5.6%;
- Net debt of £126.0 million, down £3.0 million, despite further investment of £21.8 million in the business;
- 6.1% increase in the interim dividend to 8.38 pence per share, the nineteenth consecutive year of growth; and
- Promising trading since the period end with managed house total sales for the first six weeks up 13.0% and 9.6% on a like-for- like basis.