Top story
Marston’s has outperformed the market and pointed to significant opportunities ahead as a focused pub group.
The business sold off its brewing arm, which makes Hobgoblin and Pedigree, to Carlsberg in the summer.
Today, Marston’s said total retail sales at the group’s 1,339 pubs increased 5.8% year on year in the 52 weeks to 28 September, with like-for-like growth of 4.8%.
It added in the trading update that both food and drink occasions had shown good momentum.
Marston’s upheld profits guidance for the year thanks to the strong trading performance and growth ahead of the broader market.
Net debt also fell by about £300m to £885m on the back of the good trading and the sale of its 40% stake in Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company.
CEO Justin Platt said: “The strong revenue performance is very pleasing. This reflects the quality of the experiences we are providing for our guests as well as the continued focus and passion of our team.
“This performance, combined with our recent disposal of CMBC puts Marston’s in a strong position to drive value for our shareholders as a focused pub business. We look forward to sharing more about the Marston’s growth opportunity at our investor day next week.”
Morning update
Agriculture and engineering group Carr’s has announced trading broadly in line with board expectations for the year ended 31 August.
The group said in the trading update that activity to explore options to maximise shareholder value for the engineering division was proceeding “satisfactorily”.
And integration of the businesses comprising the agriculture division under a single management team is complete and an update on a focussed agriculture strategy will be made in due course.
No comments yet