Revenue, Profit and Dividend Growth
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
Group revenue - up 9% to £782.9 million (2012: £719.7 million).
Underlying operating profit - up 7% to £168.3 million (2012: £157.9 million).
Underlying PBT - up 1% to £88.4 million, despite higher interest costs.
Return on capital - 0.5% improvement versus 2012.
Final dividend - up 5% to 4.1 pence per share.
Bank facility extension to November 2018 - extends maturity of Group debt.
Current trading - encouraging start to year.
OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS AND STRATEGY
Destination and Premium - strong sales and profit growth driven by new-build investment, including 22 openings in the year, performing ahead of target
Taverns - H2 profit growth in managed pubs and 600 pubs converted to franchise
Brewing - revenue and profit up with increased market share
Acceleration of new-builds - increased planned rate of expansion of new-builds to 25-30 sites per annum
Disposals of lower turnover wet-led pubs
- 130 pubs and other assets sold or exchanged during the year for c.£50 million
- Agreement to dispose of 202 sites for £90 million at 7.6x EBITDA multiple
- Target £60-70 million disposals per annum in 2014 and 2015 from Taverns estate
CURRENT TRADING - 7 WEEKS TO 23 NOVEMBER
Destination and Premium -like-for-like sales up 3.1%; like-for-like food sales up 4.6%; like- for-like wet
sales up 1.0%
Taverns- managed and franchised like-for-like sales up 2.1%; tenanted profits in line with
expectations
Leased - like-for-like profits in line with last year
Brewing - in line with expectations
Commenting, Ralph Findlay, Chief Executive Officer, said:
"In 2013 we achieved good growth in turnover and operating profit despite significant challenges. This reflects our unstinting focus on what our customers want: excellent service and value for money in high quality pubs and bars. In 2013 we served 30 million meals, with food now the principal reason for around 80% of customer visits in our Destination pubs.
Looking forward we will accelerate our high-return new-build programme whilst increasing the level of disposals from our lower turnover wet-led pubs. We have made an encouraging start to the new financial year and remain confident that our proven strategy is aligned to the underlying trends in the sector."
