Steve Nuttall, managing director of Joule’s, has said the company is likely to look outside its traditional heartland as it eyes eventual growth to 100 sites.
Nuttall told MCA that while there was still scope for infill in its traditional geography of a 75-minute drive from its Shropshire base, the currently 42-strong group would need to expand into new areas to reach its full potential.
He said: “There are a lot of opportunities for us in areas like Birmingham, Nottingham, Derby and the outskirts of Manchester.
“We will need to look beyond our heartland if want to get to go to that next level. I think there’s easily the scope for us to have 100 sites.”
It comes as the company announced a 14% increase in EBITDA for the year to 31 March, to £2m.
The company said it was particularly pleased with the performance of its tap estate, which generated £1.9m – an increase of 15.4% on last year.
The company said the return on investment on the tap and sales estate, including renovations completed on opened pubs, averaged 16.27% – in line with expectations.
During the year, Joule’s draught beer sales increased 16.4% from 5,617 to 6,539 barrels. The company said the increase in volume was mainly driven by the increase of brewery taps and sales to free trade customers with like-for-like sales to existing taps remained static.
During the year four pubs were renovated – the New Inn, Newport; The Crown, Codsall; The Prince of Wales, Congleton; and The Talbot, Ruyton. In total, the business invested £606,000 in refurbishment and renovation of the pub estate.
