Joseph Holt, the Manchester-based brewer and pub operator, is looking for more pubs after reducing its borrowings from £9m to £4m last year.
Results for 2011 were distorted by the fact it was a 53-week period rather than 52, along with the VAT rise, and the sale of one pub for £0.5m. Pre-tax profits increase by more than one third from £2.6m to £3.4m.
Underlying sales fell c.4% and revenues from continuing operations increased from £45.1m to £46.6m.
“It was a difficult year but we did not come out too badly,” chief executive Richard Kershaw told the Manchester Evening News.
“We got our heads down and reduced our borrowings, and we are on the lookout for new pubs as well as continuing to invest in our existing estate.”
