INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
RESULTS
In a difficult retail environment, the company has benefited from the investments made last year, a stronger
Turnover for the half year of
The current political and economic uncertainty has resulted in a current expectation that interest rates will fall in the short to medium term and this has had a negative impact on the fair value of our interest rate swaps. This has required an increase in the provision of
Net debt at
PUBS AND INNS
Our tenanted pubs have had a good first half to the year despite mixed weather compared to last year’s summer heatwave. The investments we have made over recent years mean that our pubs’ balanced income streams provide resilience in the face of the ups and downs of the British climate.
Turnover has risen by 2% on a like for like basis and operating profit is level with last year. We have completed 12 investment schemes in the first half of the year, investing
Major refurbishments schemes have been carried out at Blue Bell, Carlton in Lindrick; Boot & Shoe, Elswick and Malt Shovel, Barkby.
Our Inns have had an excellent summer, with turnover up by 19% and operating profit up by 45%. They too are benefiting from investment and their premium positioning puts them in an area of growth. The major investment made last year at the Beverley Arms, and the year before at The Crown in
HOTELS & SPAS
In the hotels & spas sales for the first half of the year have grown by 5%, with operating profits growing by 3%. The hotels have experienced a strong leisure market from
The reorganisation of our hotel management structure that was completed in the first half of last year is delivering the intended efficiency gains and renewed focus of our operations teams. This has helped to drive the increase in sales and improve operating margins which has helped to absorb previously highlighted cost increases, in particular from wage costs associated with the national living wage, auto-enrolment and natural market inflation from candidate shortages in key positions.
The performance has also benefited from a reduced level of disruption from lower levels of capital expenditure following the significant refurbishment programme we completed last year, although we have spent
CORE BEER RANGE
During the period we launched our new core beer range which is only available in our own properties. The range consists of five cask beers, Original, Gold, Amber, IPA and Mild, which have been very well received by our customers such an extent that our new brewery at
FUNNY GIRLS
When we sold our Free Trade business to Marston’s in 2015 we retained our investment in one large free trade account in
In
In addition to selling Funny Girls, we sold three pubs and a parcel of land adjacent to one of our pubs for a total of
EARNINGS PER SHARE
The basic earnings per share for the period was 2.7p per share (2018: 8.5p). This movement is largely due to the year on year non-cash movement in the fair value of our interest rate swaps, which was negative this year against a positive last year. The underlying earnings per share, excluding the impact of the interest rate swap movement is 9.5p (2018: 7.5p).
DIVIDEND
The Board recommends an interim dividend of 1.10p (2018: 1.10p) to be paid on
BOARD CHANGES
As previously announced,
SUMMARY
For the past few years our priority has been a large capital investment programme to reposition our properties and improve the quality of our assets.
Our plan this year has been to drive sales, control costs and invest carefully in order to fully understand how the business trades without the disruption it absorbed during the recent investment programme.
The Company has posted a strong performance for the first half and the focus on our core businesses, whilst disposing of those that were non-core has strengthened its financial position.
We will continue to adopt the same approach for the rest of the year, being ready to move forward once clarity on a new government and Brexit comes, and in a strong position to be agile should opportunities to acquire new assets arise.
Chairman
Profit and Loss Account for the six months ended
Unaudited
Unaudited Audited
6 months 6 months 12 months ended
ended ended 31 March
30 September 2019 30 September 2018 2019
GBP’m GBP’m GBP’m
Turnover 53.4 49.9 96.9
Operating profit 8.7 8.0 11.7
Property disposals 0.8 0.2 0.1
______ ______ ______
Profit before interest 9.5 8.2 11.8
Net interest payable (2.0) (1.9) (3.9)
(Loss) profit on interest
rate swaps measured at fair (4.0) 0.6 (2.5)
value
Finance charge on pension (0.5) (0.5) (0.9)
liability
______ ______ ______
Profit on ordinary 3.0 6.4 4.5
activities
before taxation
Taxation (1.4) (1.4) (1.0)
______ ______ ______
Profit on ordinary 1.6 5.0 3.5
activities after taxation
______ ______ ______
Earnings per share 2.7p 8.5p 5.9p
Balance Sheet as at
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
30 September 2019 30 September 2018 31 March
GBP’m GBP’m 2019
GBP’m
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 293.3 297.2 298.0
Investments 1.0 3.2 0.8
______ ______ ______
294.3 300.4 298.8
Current assets
Stocks 0.7 0.6 0.7
Trade and other debtors 10.8 12.8 9.8
Cash at bank and in hand 5.9 2.3 3.8
______ ______ ______
17.4 15.7 14.3
Creditors due within one year
Trade and other creditors (17.0) (15.5) (15.2)
Loan capital (22.5) - (28.5)
______ ______ _____
(39.5) (15.5) (43.7)
Net current (liabilities) assets (22.1) 0.2 (29.4)
______ ______ ______
Total assets less current 272.2 300.6 269.4
liabilities
Creditors due after one year (67.0) (89.2) (63.9)
______ ______ ______
Net assets excluding pension 205.2 211.4 205.5
liability
Pension liability (24.9) (34.2) (24.8)
______ ______ ______
Net assets including pension 180.3 177.2 180.7
liability
______ ______ ______
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital 14.7 14.7 14.7
Capital redemption reserve 1.1 1.1 1.1
Revaluation reserve 73.8 77.3 74.1
Profit and loss account 90.7 84.1 90.8
______ ______ ______
Equity shareholders’ funds 180.3 177.2 180.7
______ ______ ______
NOTES:-
1. Basis of preparation
The interim accounts, which have not been audited, have been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies set out in the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended
2. Taxation
The taxation charge is based on the estimated tax rate for the year.
