‘Businesses as usual’ at EIG ahead of Stonegate takeover

Ei Group has announced underlying EBITDA down 3.8% to £276m, following the disposal of 354 commercial property assets for £340.6m.

Underlying profit before tax was down 3.2% to £118m or the financial year ended 30 September 2019.

The group posted a statutory loss after tax of £209m, reflecting non-underlying finance costs of £15m, early redemption charges, non-underlying property charges of £62m, £35m of goodwill to property disposals, and an impairment of goodwill of £232m.

Strong operating cash flows of £247m and disposal proceeds of £384m funded capital investment of £87m and debt reduction

EIG’s core tenanted business Publican Partnerships, which makes up two thirds of the group, saw like-for-like net income up 1.2%.

In its fast-growing Managed Pubs division, which now stands at 462 sites with the transfer of 100-120 pubs a year, like-for-like sales growth was 5%.

Within its Managed Operations there are 392 pubs trading within the wholly owned division, 63 in the Bermondsey estate and in the drinks-led Craft Union estate

Managed Investments now stands at 70 pubs trading with 11 partners

Following the recommended cash acquisition by Stonegate Pub Company, EIG expects the transaction to complete in the first quarter of 2020, subject to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) review.

Simon Townsend, CEO said: “We are pleased to have maintained the strong trading performance for the year, particularly given the challenging trading comparatives from the summer last year. We continue to deliver sustained like-for-like net income growth within our core Publican Partnerships business and are generating strong returns as we expand our Managed Operations and Managed Investments businesses.”

Townsend said it was “business as usual” at the group, despite the Stonegate bid.