Brulines, the beer flow monitoring company, has reported falls in turnover and pre-tax profit for the six months to 30 September 2011, on the back of pub closures and disposals.
Turnover for the past six months amounted to £11.79m, down 3.9% on the previous six months, while pre-tax profit fell from £1.95m to £1.62m. Ebitda for the period stood at £1.91m down from £2.42m.
It said that pub closures and disposals resulted in a net reduction of 660 sites in its core Leisure business installation base, although this was partially offset by the group delivering 361 “higher value” new iDraughtTM installations.
Brulines said that despite integration issues holding back the performance of its Fuel Solutions Division, group gross margins remained strong at 53.0% as compared to 55.2% in H1 2011.
It said it had maintained tight control over fixed overheads, which reduced by some 7% on last year, and that it continues to review these in light of the “difficult trading conditions within the leisure market”.
The group had cash balances of £140,000, an overdraft of £1.19m, and overall net debt of £3.27m at 30 September 2011.
The company declared an interim dividend of 1.67p per share.
The group said that although the economic climate remains challenging, particularly in the pub sector, it believes it is well placed to make progress in the second half of the year, particularly in light of a number of contract extensions, with groups including Enterprise Inns and Spirit Group.
It said it was also in discussions with several of its other key customers in its Leisure Division over similar contract extensions.
James Newman, chairman, said: “The group has continued to trade encouragingly in what has remained a difficult economic environment. Good progress has been made across all areas of the business, in particular in the core leisure division with the continued roll out of iDraughtTM and contract extensions secured with a number of key customers. The Fuel Solutions division has now overcome some initial challenges and is performing closer to expectations.
“Overall, the Board believes the group is well positioned in all of its markets and enjoys a high level of recurring income. Despite the macro-economic backdrop, the Board expects to maintain Brulines’ resilient performance for the remainder of the financial year.”
