Admiral Taverns has announced financial results for the year ended 29 May 2022, with group turnover of £152.8m and loss after tax of £6.6m.
The c1,550-strong operator of predominantly wet-led community pubs reported the successful integration of the Hawthorn Community Pub Company, following the acquisition in August 2021.
Admiral also reported operating profit of £21.2m and underlying profit after tax of £3.6m. Its current estate valuation is £589.8m, reflecting the acquisition of the Hawthorn portfolio as well as 64 disposals during the period, resulting in an estate of 1,547 at the financial year end.
Following the year end, pubs traded ahead of expectations during September 2022, with buoyant drink sales from the tenanted pub estate, according to the update.
Admiral Taverns invested £28m in capex across the estate over the year, with a total of £50m invested in the last two years. It has also launched its inaugural sustainability strategy and invested £1m into energy saving measures to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions.
The business states it is focused on delivering internal improvements to aid licensees amid the current trading environment and is “well positioned to weather the storms of macroeconomic headwinds.”
CEO Chris Jowsey commented: “Our highly supportive and proactive measures to protect our licensees during the pandemic have enabled the business to recover quickly and I’m pleased to see most pubs returning to pre-2019 trading levels. The Hawthorn acquisition was a transformational event for the business, and I am delighted to have successfully completed the integration of these pubs into our estate, welcoming a number of new colleagues and licensees into the Group.
“The current economic environment creates a challenging backdrop for our publicans, but our community based, wet-led pubs continue to demonstrate their resilience, and are well situated within their communities to provide affordable hospitality. We have a passionate belief in the value of community pubs and have delivered several strategic initiatives to support licensees through this period, including our £1m investment into energy saving measures and £28m CAPEX investment across the year.
“As we look to the future, we continue to focus on our strategic plans to acquire, develop and maintain a high-quality estate of successful, individual wet-led community pubs at the heart of their communities. We remain optimistic that our supportive model, and high-quality estate of pubs puts us in a good position to trade through this challenging macroeconomic environment and continue to make progress against our long-term strategy.”
