|
Mitchells & Butlers PLC on Wednesday said it swung to a profit and revenue was up, as like-for-like sales grew compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The Birmingham-based pub, bar and restaurant operator said its pretax profit in the financial year that ended September 24 was £8 million, swinging from a loss of £42 million a year earlier, while revenue more than doubled to £2.21 billion from £1.07 billion.
Shares in Mitchells & Butlers were up 6.0% to 150.50 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
Operating costs before depreciation, amortisation and property portfolio valuation movements also more than doubled to £1.84 billion from £885 million.
‘Excluding the impact of utilities, profits broadly recovered to pre-Covid-19 levels,’ the pub chain said.
It noted like-for-like sales growth for the year of 1.1% against its financial 2019, before the onset of Covid-19.
It declared no dividend for its financial 2022, unchanged from a year prior.
Mitchells & Butlers said it expects inflation to add 10% to 12% to its circa £1.8 billion cost base before mitigation in financial 2023. It said the energy price guarantee from the UK Government for businesses for six months from October 1 was welcome, but costs are still expected to increase this year, causing ‘significant uncertainty’ over its second half.
The firm highlighted an encouraging start to the new financial year, with like-for-like sales growth of 6.5% in the first ten weeks.
Continued recovery of sales was encouraging, it said, with a general return to office working, city centres becoming stronger and consumers returning to the hospitality sector. However, it still noted the cost of living concerns facing customers, prompting cautious optimism in its outlook.
‘Combined with our diverse portfolio of well-known brands, value proposition, strong estate locations and talented people, we are well positioned to face both the challenges and opportunities ahead,’ said Chief Executive Phil Urban.
By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2022 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
|
