Profits at Marston’s have slumped due to the rising cost of barley, fuel and food. But increasing demand for pub meals helped turnover rise by 3.6 per cent to £316.4m.
The Wolverhampton-based Banks’s brewer revealed today that its underlying pre-tax profits were down 15.9 per cent in the first six months of the year to £35 million.
Chief executive Ralph Findlay said today around 65 per cent of Marston’s customers were now going to its pubs primarily for a meal, rather than to drink.
But the group was battling soaring costs for the barley it uses in brewing, fuel costs and even the price of food. “Our food costs are rising by about eight per cent,” he said.
The former Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries, which changed its name in 2006, now runs 2,300 pubs nationwide and employs 12,000 people. Mr Findlay added: “We expect things will get tougher later in the year but we are in good shape to cope.”
The group expects the rising cost of food to add another £1.5 million to its bills in the second half of the year and another £3 million to its costs next year. Marston’s is also facing a further £3 million a year on its electricity bill across the group.
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