Wadworth has said it is hoping that efficiencies from its new brewery still release further funds that it can invest back into its pub estate towards the end of the year.
The Wiltshire-based brewer and pub company said its +130 strong tenanted division had performed well throughout last year, but that the number of pubs it has to let has increased from only one at the start of 2022, as several partners optied to move on due to the financial pressures and staffing issues facing the industry.
Its managed houses business, which comprised 19 sites at the year ended 31 December 2022, had faced a very challenging year with conversion to profit impacted by increases across every cost line - utility bills being the biggest issue, chairman Charles Bartholomew said in the strategic report filed as part of its latest accounts.
Labour shortages also caused problems, which resulted in a number of its pubs having to shut for two days a week and agency chefs used at inflated costs.
“From a management perspective it has been a year of change with eight of our 19 pubs having new managers and this meant the businesses needed some time to turn around their performance,” he said.
The business reported a loss for FY2022 of £3.8m, versus a loss of £3.9m after tax, according to the accounts just published at Companies House.
EBITDA was £3.6m, compared to £1.6m the prior year on turnover of £36.3m versus £25.1m.
Bartholomew said that while the results were behind expectations given the impact of the Russia/Ukraine war and cost inflation, he was proud of the team for battling through everything that was thrown at the business over the year.
For example, utility costs increased by £725k in 2022, versus the prior year, despite measures to reduce energy consumption.
However, the company headed in 2023 in a good position and was still improving with a much more settled team in place and an opportunity to convert sales into profit, he said.
“The effort to drive the top line was beginning to come through in the last few months of 2022, with December sales up 29% on the prior year.”
Bartholomew added that business was looking ahead with positivity, with 2023 set to be a transformational year for Wadworth with the move to a new start of the art brewery and offices.
“Our firm intention is to accelerate our EBITDA growth which will enable us to pay down a proportion of our debt and be in a position to fund dividends.”
