A brewery is looking forward to a bumper season as punters flock back to its pubs.
Football fans have boosted drinks sales at Marston’s pubs by 50 per cent and general sales by 30 per cent on England match days in the World Cup, compared to the same time last year.
Like-for-like sales in the last eight weeks are up almost seven per cent and the Burton brewery is also enjoying “encouraging” levels of Christmas bookings as people celebrate the first Christmas without Covid restrictions in three years.
The update has been given as the company, which has 1,468 pubs, released its results for the year ending October 1, 2022.
They showed a pre-tax profit of £27.7 million, slightly less than its £28.4 million estimates but it included period of disrupted trading last Christmas when the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was rife. It is also a huge improvement on last year’s £101.3 million loss.
Revenues increased to almost £800 million – almost double that from last year – as Covid restrictions eased. Like-for-like retail sales for the year were just one per cent below 2019 levels, the last pre-pandemic trading year.
Andrew Andrea, CEO, said: “I am pleased to report a strong performance over the last 12 months evidenced by a doubling of revenue growth, a return to profit and steady progress with our debt reduction strategy.
He added: “Whilst uncertainty remains, Marston’s remains well-financed and in great shape to weather the challenges ahead with the right formula, the right strategy and the right team to continue to make progress and deliver shareholder value.”
