Banks’s brewer and pub owner Marston’s today revealed it has seen a fall in profits of more than 20 per cent during the last six months.

Pre-tax profits were down to £27.7 million, compared to £35m at the same point last year and sales were down 2.8 per cent to £307.5m.

The company, which employs 700 in Wolverhampton, said today that higher costs had squeezed profits margins.

But there was good news on the beer front – sales of Marston’s range of cask ales, such as Banks’s in Wolverhampton and Pedigree in Burton upon Trent have risen 19 per cent in the first half of the year, boosted by the takeover of the Oxfordshire-based Wychwood brewery in April 2008.

Company chairman David Thompson said today that despite difficult trading conditions, the firm’s performance had been “resilient”.

He said: “We are the UK’s largest brewer of premium cask ale and the Banks’s, Marston’s, Jennings, Ringwood and Wychwood breweries are thriving despite the weak performance of the UK beer market.”

The firm, which employs 12,000 nationwide, has 2,200 pubs. Those in stronger locations had prospered, said Mr Thompson.