I bought into these in December last year, primarily for the yield, but also for the potential growth of one of the better companies in their sector.


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Marston's Fundamentals (MARS)

Interim results 18th May, looking for continued growth following on from the November finals.

Peel Hunt Add 145.25 150.00 160.00 Downgrades

Figures due tomorrow hope they are better than M&B which are out today

I doubt it very much, M&B have been a useless outfit as long as I've been share shifting.

I don't hold M&B and I've not followed them at all Stan. MARS will have some similarities to M&B re pricing/cost pressures, just have to wait until tomorrow.

Agreed George but in Findlayson (?spelling) MARS have a smart cooky IMHO.

Interim Results

· Revenue and earnings growth despite late Easter

- Revenue and earnings growth despite Easter falling later this year in second half
§ Easter impact on profit before tax estimated at £1.5 million
- Statutory profit before tax up 61% reflecting positive movement in valuation of swaps
- Leverage maintained at 5.0x, fixed charge cover improved to 2.6x

· Improving quality of pub estate
- Average profit per pub up 3% in first half year
- Four pubs and bars opened
- Three lodges opened, taking estate to over 1,000 rooms

· Market-leading beer business continues to demonstrate growth
- Strong brand portfolio continues to outperform market
- Further market share growth, with 26% share of premium bottled ale and 19% share of premium cask ale

· Interim dividend up 3.8% to 2.7p per share


· Acquisition of Charles Wells Brewing and Beer Business for £55 million (see separate
announcement)
- Transaction to be funded from the proceeds of an equity placing to raise 9.9% of issued
share capital announced today (see separate announcement)

· Current trading (for 30 weeks incorporating Easter) remains encouraging

- Destination and Premium like-for-like sales up 1.6%; operating margins in line with last year
- Taverns like-for-like sales up 1.7%; Leased like-for-like profits up 2%
- Own-brewed beer volumes up 2%
- On track to open 23 pubs and bars and 8 lodges in current financial year
- Acquisition of three Pointing Dog Premium pubs in May and agreement to purchase seven Destination and Premium pubs

Commenting, Ralph Findlay, CEO said:


"Marston's has been transformed over the last 10 years by the consistent implementation of our established strategy. In that time, we have built around 200 pubs on new sites representing 60% of the Destination estate today, and we have developed a leading premium pubs and bars business. The Taverns estate has been repositioned, having sold around 1,000 pubs and introduced pioneering franchise-style agreements designed for community pubs. In Brewing, we lead the premium ale market and benefit from a growing contribution from craft beers and international licensed brands, including premium European lager brands.

"Our market position will be enhanced by the acquisition of Charles Wells Brewing and Beer Business and we remain confident our strategy will continue to create value for shareholders."

Acquisition of Charles Wells Brewing and Beer Business for £55 million

Marston's PLC ("Marston's" or "the Group") today announces that it has agreed to acquire the Charles Wells brewing business from the Charles Wells Group for a cash consideration of £55 million, plus working capital adjustments.

Based in Bedford, Charles Wells Brewing and Beer Business is an established high quality brewing business with a portfolio of more than 30 beers including leading brands such as Bombardier, Young's and McEwan's. In addition, the business has UK distribution rights for the Estrella Damm lager brand and other beers under license including Kirin and Erdinger. As part of this acquisition, we have entered into a long-term exclusive agreement to supply all beer, wine, spirits and minerals to the Charles Wells pub estate. The brewery site, which is freehold, employs around 300 people.

The Charles Wells Brewing and Beer Business acquisition complements the existing Marston's Beer Company strategy:

· Extends our number 1 position in the premium bottled ale and cask ale markets, and enhances our share of the premium canned market.
· Strengthens our presence in London and the South East and presents a platform to expand into Scotland.
· Develops our licensed brands business.
· Expands our production capabilities to include lager brewing and canning, whilst improving production and distribution efficiency.

Furthermore, there is a strong financial rationale for the Charles Wells Brewing and Beer Business acquisition:

· Enterprise value of £55 million equates to 9x current EBITDA before synergies.
· Transaction to be funded through equity placing as announced today (see separate announcement).
· Expected synergies of £4 million to be achieved by financial year 2019.
· ROIC expected to exceed 18% in third full year.



Rationale for the Charles Wells acquisition

Marston's Beer Company ("MBC") has deployed a consistent strategy over the last five years to become the UK's leading premium beer business. Today, MBC has an experienced senior team and holds leading market share in both the premium bottled and premium cask ale markets. MBC takes a local approach to its brewing capabilities via its portfolio of five regional breweries located throughout England and has recently extended its focus to licensed brands, including Shipyard, which is now the number 2 Craft Beer in the UK, as well as the Warsteiner, Kruzovice and Kingstone Press brands.

MBC has also successfully enhanced shareholder value through acquisitions, most recently through the £25 million purchase of the Thwaites beer business in 2015. Since acquisition the Thwaites beer brands have performed strongly, delivering synergies in line with expectations and returns well in excess of the Group average.

Charles Wells Brewing and Beer Business presents an excellent opportunity which is consistent with our strategy. With a brand portfolio which will not only increase our ale market share from 11% to 16%, this acquisition will also strengthen our representation in London and the South East, and present an opportunity through the McEwan's brand to expand into Scotland. Charles Wells Brewing and Beer Business also brings with it significant expertise in licensed brands most notably its portfolio includes the growing Estrella Damm lager brand which represents a significant opportunity. From a supply chain perspective, Charles Wells offers lager brewing and canning capacity of scale, activities which are not currently undertaken by Marston's. In addition, the acquisition presents opportunities to further improve efficiencies in brewing, packaging and logistics.

Charles Wells Brewing and Beer Business financial profile

For the financial year ended 30 September 2016, Charles Wells Brewing and Beer Business generated revenues of £92 million, EBITDA of £6 million, operating EBIT of £5 million on a 52 week basis and net tangible assets of £36 million. Marston's estimates it can generate operational improvements similar to those achieved in previous acquisitions and has identified potential costs savings of £4 million by financial year 2019, with the majority being realised in financial year 2018.

Transaction details and timing

Marston's intends to finance the acquisition from the proceeds of an equity placing announced today, which represents 9.9% of Marston's issued share capital.

Completion of the acquisition is expected in June 2017, following completion of the appropriate consultation procedures.

more.....

MARSTON'S PLC ANNOUNCES A PROPOSED PLACING OF APPROXIMATELY 9.9% ISSUED SHARE CAPITAL

Marston's PLC ("Marston's" or the "Company") today announces its intention to conduct a non-pre-emptive cash placing of approximately 57.6 million new ordinary shares in the Company to institutional investors (the "Placing"), which represents approximately 9.9% of the Company's issued share capital (excluding treasury shares). J.P. Morgan Securities PLC, which conducts its UK investment banking activities as J.P. Morgan Cazenove ("J.P. Morgan Cazenove"), and Numis Securities Limited ("Numis") are acting as joint bookrunners (the "Bookrunners").

The Company has also announced today that it has agreed to acquire the Charles Wells Brewing and Beer Business from the Charles Wells Group for a cash consideration of £55 million, plus working capital adjustments, representing 5.5x EBITDA post synergies. Based in Bedford, Charles Wells Brewing and Beer Business is an established high quality brewing business with a portfolio of more than 30 beers including leading brands such as Bombardier, Young's and McEwan's. In addition, the business has UK distribution rights for the Estrella Damm lager brand and other beers under license including Kirin and Erdinger (see separate announcement).

The Company also announced today the agreement to acquire seven pubs in strong locations to enhance its Destination and Premium estate for a consideration of £13m with a refurbishment investment of £3m, representing 7.8x post investment EBITDA.

Both of these acquisitions (the "Acquisitions") are expected to complete in June 2017.

The Acquisitions are expected to deliver a combined ROIC in excess of 15% in the first full year and to be EPS neutral in the first full year and accretive thereafter. Pro forma Net debt:EBITDA is expected to reduce by 0.3x post completion of the Acquisitions.

In addition, Marston's is today issuing its interim results covering the 26 weeks ended 1 April 2017 (see separate announcement).

Background to the placing - use of proceeds

The net proceeds from the Placing will be used to fund the consideration for the Acquisitions.

The Placing is not conditional upon completion of the Acquisitions. In the event that the Acquisitions do not complete, Marston's will retain the net proceeds of the Placing for potential investment opportunities and general corporate purposes.

The Placing

The Placing is subject to the terms and conditions set out in the Appendix. The Bookrunners will commence a bookbuilding process in respect of the Placing ("Bookbuild"). The book will open with immediate effect following this announcement.

The price per ordinary share at which the Placing Shares (defined below) are to be placed (the "Placing Price") will be decided at the close of the Bookbuild. The timing of the closing of the Bookbuild, the Placing Price and allocations are at the discretion of Marston's and the Bookrunners. When issued, the Placing Shares will be credited as fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of 7.375 pence each in the share capital of the Company, including the right to receive all dividends (including the interim dividend of 2.7p per share announced today) and other distributions declared, made or paid on or in respect of such shares after the date of issue of the Placing Shares.

Application will be made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange (together, "Admission"). It is expected that Admission will take place at 8.00am on 22 May 2017 (or such later date as may be agreed between the Company and the Bookrunners). The Placing is conditional upon, inter alia, Admission becoming effective. The Placing is also conditional on the placing agreement between the Company and the Bookrunners not being terminated.

The Appendix to this announcement (which forms part of this announcement) sets out further information relating to the Bookbuild and the terms and conditions of the Placing.

All going on at MARS these days isnt it, well done Ralph keep it up son -);

Shore Capital Buy 140.90 - - Retains

Peel Hunt Add 140.90 160.00 160.00 Reiterates

Placing rather than Rights Issue, I'd like to see the debt coming down, however the acquisition looks to be at a reasonable cost and the divi continues to rise on the back of increasing EPS. All in all quite happy to continue to hold, depending on where the sp drops in relation to the placing it may be wise to add some more.

Results of Placing

Marston's is pleased to announce the successful completion of the placing announced today (the "Placing").

A total of 57,600,995 new ordinary shares of 7.375 pence each (the "Placing Shares") have been placed by J.P. Morgan Securities PLC, which conducts its UK investment banking activities as J.P. Morgan Cazenove ("J.P. Morgan Cazenove") and Numis Securities Limited ("Numis") at a price of 137.0 pence per Placing Share (the "Placing Price"), raising proceeds of approximately £78.9 million (before expenses). The Placing Shares being issued represent approximately 9.9% of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company (excluding treasury shares) prior to the Placing.

The Placing Price represents a discount of 4.9 per cent. to the closing price on 17 May 2017 and a discount of 3.1 per cent. to the intra-day price at 9.31 a.m. (being the time the Placing Price was agreed). The net placing price of approximately 131.7 pence per Placing Share to be received by the Company after expenses directly attributable to the Placing represents a discount of approximately 6.8 per cent. to that intra-day price.

more.....

Looking very oversold.

Brewing? A variety of Hops are grown in the uk do Youngs use "them" or are they imported?

If imported how does the weak pound effect the bottom line I wonder...just musing.

Also all the other Breweries Marstons have takenover in previous years..probably more questions then answers there but just thinking allowed.

sp trading around 10%ish below the recent placing

Yes they are certainly out of favour!

Near 6% yield at this sp. Will have to encourage T to take his pals around their pubs to do some research

Not seen these levels for the best part of 5 years, GNK also weak, possibly due to uncertainty in consumer spending. GNK figures seemed ok though

Not another one like CLLN.