JW Lees, the Manchester-based brewer and pub operator, saw pre-tax profits grow 23.1% to £5.9m in the year to 31 March and it reiterated plans to expand after securing a £10m facility from the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Turnover increased 5.2% to £59.2m, with operating profit up 2.2% to £5.9m.
Site acquisition costs (including fixtures and fittings, improvements and repairs) grew from £6.1m to £10.4m as it acquired four premises: the Plough & Flail Wilmslow, the Rope & Anchor Dunham Massey, the Blue Bell Monton and the Rope & Anchor Woolston. It also sold eight that were “considered to be not economically capable of being developed for the future”.
“Also, the company sold its French bar/restaurant, the Perdrix Noire, which concluded 38 years of successful trading in Flaine.”
Since the year end JW Lees has opened its second Duttons site in central Manchester.
Meanwhile, the brewing and kegging plant was “improved by the acquisition of a new kegging line”, which has “considerably enhanced the quality of our keg beers”.
The Manchester Evening News has reported that JW Lees is targeting sales of £100m within five years.
Earlier this year managing director William Lees-Jones told M&C Report that the group was looking to grow to 200 pubs and was able to secure a further £10m in growth funding from the bank.
He said: “Because we’re making good profits it means the bank is willing to lend us more money, so we’re looking to accelerate growth. We’re sitting on £20m and can get another £10m from the bank. And to me that money means pubs - new-builds, conversions and, especially, buying pubs in places where we’re not well known.”
Lees-Jones added: “We have 164 pubs now and we want to get to 200. Twenty years ago we had 172. But this time they’ll be very high quality pubs. There are opportunities to buy off the larger pubcos pubs that we’ll spend £400,000 to £500,000 doing up.”
