City Pub Co chairman Clive Watson has told MCA he expects the group to reach 35 sites by September, as he gears up for a new acquisition “on the fringes of the City”.
Watson described the group, which is gearing up for a proposed listing on the AIM market by the end of the year, as the “last bastion of pub companies built through the Enterprise Investment Scheme”.
He said because of this he was confident that his shareholders would not be wooed by any approach by established pubcos looking to acquire a quality portfolio.
Watson was speaking to MCA on the back of figures showing sales in 2016 up 37% on the previous years, with the five weeks to 1 January 2017 up 47% on the same period last year. It saw the company achieve £1m sales in a single week for the first time.
Watson put the strong Christmas trading down to better planning and the pubs being better established in their communities.
On the group’s 30th acquisition, which is set to complete later this month, Watson said: “It’s on the fringes of the City, which has been an area I’ve always been slightly wary of. But I think it is possible to trade across seven days there now.
“We have other things in the pipeline and I would hope that we would be up to 35 by around September.”
Watson said he would continue to monitor the market but had not altered his timetable for the IPO.
He said: “Conditions aren’t as good as they were nine months ago for many reasons and it still remains to be seen if people are going to start tightening their belts as Brexit starts to feel increasingly real. But we are confident in our proposition and the benefits that new acquisitions will bring us so that is all we can do. Other than that we can only watch and wait.”
Capital, the company Watson formed with fellow City Pub Co founder, David Bruce, was eventually bought out by Greene King in 2011 but only after a battle with Fuller’s.
Asked if he fears similar approaches from larger operators in the current climate, Watson said: “I don’t, and for a number of reasons.
“Firstly I think our shareholders fully support our model and our plans for the business, which we have always been open about. With the changes to EIS (meaning funds raised through this method cannot be used to purchase trading pubs) City Pub Company is really the last bastion of pub companies built through that set-up.
“I also think that we are more experienced and perhaps even battle-hardened from previous experiences. We know what we want to do with this company and we won’t be pushed around by anyone.
“And finally we have a young and dynamic management team who are excited about the prospect of taking the company forward and have no desire to part of a bigger machine.”
