Marston’s profits dip

Banks’s brewer Marston’s today reported a dip in profits, blaming a miserable cocktail of summer flooding, rising interest rates and the smoking ban.

The Wolverhampton firm, which owns more than 2,000 pubs, saw a three per cent profits fall but today said sales were “robust” and it was optimistic about months ahead.

The brewer, which produces its Banks’s range in Wolverhampton and other beers, including Pedigree, in Burton upon Trent, posted underlying pre-tax profits of £98 million for the year to the end of September.

This was down from £101.5 million after £2 million repair bills following summer downpours.

The group, formerly Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries, reported like-for-like sales up 4.6 per cent in the year against a “challenging background”.

It said preparations for the smoking ban – it spent about £20 million for 90 per cent of

outlets to have outside trading areas – helped it stride ahead.

Chief executive Ralph Findlay said they delivered a strong set of results despite difficulties posed by the flooding, the smoking ban and the credit squeeze.

He said: “Food is becoming a really significant part of the business. If you add on the other things that diners buy, like wines and coffee, around two-thirds of spending is linked to food.

“People are eating out more, more families and females are visiting pubs – and the introduction of the smoking ban has helped accelerate that.

“Christmas bookings are ahead of last year, which is encouraging, but we are cautious because consumer confidence does seem weaker.”

Midlands and Yorkshire, flooding, badly hit about 150 pubs. In beer sales, Marston’s bucked the national trend, which saw a five per cent decline, as sales of Pedigree were up six per cent and Jennings Cumberland Ale soared 30 per cent.

The results were well received in the City, with analysts describing the shares as cheap, and recommending investors to buy.