Liberation Group’s pubs division achieved sales of £10.5m in FY2022, up from £670,000 in 2021.
Underlying group EBITDA was £9.5m, up from a loss of £795k in 2021.
The Channel Islands and South West pub company and brewer was reporting results for the 52 weeks to 29 January 2022, a period impacted by closures and restrictions, leading to a loss in the first quarter.
Despite this, the group generated almost the same level of EBITDA as the financial period before the pandemic, invested £9.6m in capital expenditure and ended the period with a lower net debt than at the start of the period.
Liberation, which has 56 managed pubs and 62 tenanted, reported +18.6% UK like-for-like managed pub sales growth in Q2-Q4 (May 2021 to January 2022, compared to two years prior).
This performance was driven by 13 weeks to 28 August 2021 when the UK managed pubs achieved +26% growth on the same weeks in 2019.
Even during December 2021 when the Omicron variant impacted consumer demand, UK managed pubs achieved +4% sales growth on two years prior.
Channel Islands like-for-like managed pub sales were -12.6% in Q2-Q4 (May 2021 to January 2022, compared to two years prior).
This was down to a greater proportion of managed pubs in Guernsey and Jersey being located in town centre locations where footfall has been impacted more adversely from the directions and guidance to work from home. Both islands have also seen a decline in tourist travellers in 2021 compared to 2019.
Liberation Group’s investment strategy saw the delivery of 21 major +£100k development projects and maintenance capital expenditure totalling £9.6m.
The group’s liquidity position was helped by disposal of three non-core pubs and two non-trading properties for £2.2m.
Three tenanted pubs were disposed for £1.5m. Only £100,000 of overdue debt remains from tenants in relation to the last two years.
The strong EBITDA and operating cash flow performance allowed the full repayment of the Revolving Credit Facility during the period, reducing gross bank debt by £1.6m to £50.5m and reducing net debt by £1.0m.
The group has continued its strategy of disposing of non-core assets since the balance sheet date, disposing of two non-core pubs for £1m in Q1.
Jonathan Lawson, Liberation Group CEO, commended the “quality and passion” of the teams for helping deliver the strong results.
He added: “We, like others, can see the headwinds picking up and the concern that always goes with declining consumer confidence and pressure on disposable income. Our people plan is of crucial importance to drive recruitment and retention with a strong focus on internal development. So, looking forward we are in good shape, with robust plans and quality teams to execute our strategy and are maintaining our strong investment plans for the year ahead to ensure that we continue to deliver the best experience possible for our customers.
“The Platinum Jubilee Weekend delivered a fantastic week of sales across our group and in all markets with a number of our pubs delivering record weekly sales. We were delighted that so many customers chose to celebrate this unique event with us.”
