Fuller, Smith & Turner has caught up on the repairs programme and trading that was disrupted by last year’s summer rain as its pubs revelled in the current heatwave.
After posting 10% like-for-like sales growth in the managed estate in Q1, chief executive Simon Emeny told M&C Report: “It’s early in the year, but we’re pleased with the start we’ve made. We’re a long-term company, and we take the bumps and the upsides as they come.”
He said that the profile of the Fuller’s pub estate had changed considerably in recent years. “We have far more garden pubs than ever before. The rain we experienced 12 months ago had an unprecedented impact on those pubs. But in the sunshine people flock to our gardens, which in some pubs can double or treble trading space. They bring more people out to eat and encourage more families to come to our pubs.”
Emeny refused to be drawn into speculating on the precise financial impact of the weather, but he insisted that underlying trading performance was strong. “It’s always a dangerous game to play. We’ve never tried to strip out the effects of weather or major events on our business. The numbers are the numbers. But when we’ve had weeks with similar weather to last year we’ve been ahead.”
Commenting on the accelerated repairs programme that dampened like-for-like profit by 1% in the tenanted estate, Emeny said: “We’ve continued to invest through the downturn in both our managed and tenanted estate, and we’re now seeing the returns from that. This time last year we had earmarked lots of external redecorations, but we just couldn’t do them all because of the rain. We’ve gone back to do them now, which has caused a short-term dip in profit.”
Emeny said he was particularly excited the performance of the company’s new craft lager and cider brands. He said: “Frontier [lager] has been on test in 25 pubs for eight weeks, and we’re very pleased with its progress. We’ll be extending the trial over the next couple of months to 50 pubs.” He said that the roll-out would progress “relatively slowly” to ensure that staff receive full training and education on the product. “It’s taking share from other lagers,” he added. “At the Parcel Yard [in Kings Cross] - our highest volume pub - Frontier is now the second best selling lager, so it’s getting real traction with our customers.”
As for Fuller’s new cider business Cornish Orchards, Emeny commented: “It looks like we bought that business at the very best time.”
