Fuller, Smith & Turner this morning reported an 11% increase in adjusted profit before tax to £12.1m for the 26 weeks to 29 September.
Revenues for the period were up 3% to £93.3m, while pre-exceptional ebitda was up 3% to £21m.
Profit before tax climbed 16% to £12.7m.
The company said its performance had been helped by an exceptional gain of £600,000 on property disposals, and a good performance across its pub estate.
It said that for the 33 weeks to 17 November, invested like-for-like sales in its managed estate increased by 5%, while its tenanted pubs and hotels continued to make progress in line with expectations.
The company added that it was well-positioned to deal with the winter impact of the smoking ban but said that while it was pleased with the start to the financial year, it was now in a more uncertain environment, after a summer that “provided interesting challenges”.
Fuller’s said that the sale of the Master Brewer and Brigstow hotels during its last financial year had allowed it to reduce net debt from £127.4m to £103.7m, lowering its gearing from 80.7% to 54.1%.
Michael Turner, chairman, said: “We have a strong geographical balance across London and the South of England and we continue to seek to acquire additional sites and to manage our portfolio between the managed and tenanted divisions.
“Our investment in outside areas, marketing and focus on creating the best pub in any area ensure that we are well positioned to deal with the winter impact of the smoking ban.
“The money raised from the sale of two hotels last year has enabled us to reduce our net debt and our gearing, reinforcing our strong position to access funds for further acquisitions.”
Across the group’s 150-strong managed pubs estate, profits were up 4%, with invested like-for-like sales up 5.3% on the previous year and revenue up 5%.
Food sales across its managed pubs climbed 11%, and now represents 29% of the division’s total revenue, against 27% in 2006.
The company said it acquired two managed pubs during period and transferred seven to tenancy, while it also completed nine major projects.
The company’s 207-strong tenanted estate reported profits up 9%, with revenue up 6%.
Average turnover per pub increased 4.5%.
Since the half year end it has disposed of two tenanted pubs and two unlicensed properties, raising £5m on which there will be an exceptional gain of £4m.
Revenues in its beer company rose by 4% to £30.3, while profits increased 2% to £3.5m.
Total beer volumes rose 2%, with growth in all sectors. However, foreign beer volumes fell by 2%, in what the company described as a “poor summer for lager sales”.
The company said that its wine division reported profits up 12% on the previous year.
During the period it purchased 288,000 shares for cancellation at a cost of £2.1m.
The company’s six-strong hotel division saw profits increase 10%.
Like-for-like profits across its hotels climbed 7%, while revpar increased by 8%.
It also said it had completed a five for two share split in August, which it said would “rebase share price and enhance liquidity”.
