Punch Taverns put out interim results showing profit before tax for the 28 weeks to March 1 up 17% to £55.6m, as group turnover rose 6% to £218m.
The company said group operating profit was up 9% to £115m, like-for-like contribution from pubs owned for at least two years, which represents 91% of the estate, was up 5% on like-for-like turnover up 2%, and earnings per share were up 41% to 19.4p.
Beer profits rose 8% to £67.4m, rental income was up 9% to £60m and machine income rose 35% to £6.8m. Cost of sales stayed steady at £78.2m, implying a cut in buying costs of around 4%, but administrative costs rose more than 13% to £24.2m
Punch said it had acquired 218 pubs in the period, spending approximately £92m on pub acquisitions since August 2002, and sold or delicensed 24, bringing the group total to 4,496 at the end of the financial period, an increase of 4.5%. Property disposals brought in proceeds of £7m and profit of £2m.
The company said it was creating a new post of customer service director which, it said, would provide "for the first time, a point of responsibility for all aspects of external relations." It was also launching the Punch Retailer Charter, "setting out all the major aspects of the relationship between the group and our customers."
It revealed it had made more than 700 conversions of former brewery managed pubs to tenancies in the past five years, and said more than 70% of its pubs had previously made up the core estates of former national brewers. Not counting the major acquisitions of Bass Lease Company, Vanguard and Inn Business, Punch has purchased over 600 pubs since it was formed, it said, with 27 more pubs bought since the end of the half year ,including 13 from Western Castle for £3.9m. Completion of the Western Castle deal is expected at the end of the month, and will increase the total estate to 4,517 pubs.
Group pub investment of more than £12m, matched by retailer investment of £2m, was generating incremental returns of approximately 30%, with 168 projects completed so far this year.
More than 400 Punch retailers went on one or more of the company's training programmes in the 28-week period, and in a recent review conducted by Leeds Metropolitan University, 85% of those who went on a course surveyed would recommend the training to another retailer, with 70% believing the training had directly improved their profitability, Punch said.
More than six out of 10 Punch pubs have now been through an Interbrew beer quality programme, Punch said. It now offered 47 real ales, with 20 new products being introduced to the estate through the cask ale promotion programme, “Finest Cask”, including beers from Hydes, Castle Eden and Hook Norton. Almost two in three Punch retailers currently benefit from food sales "from the simplest of offerings to award-winning gastro pubs", Punch said, an area which it expects to continue to grow.
Giles Thorley, chief executive of Punch Taverns, said: "Since the half year end, the resilient trading pattern of our estate has been maintained. We expect this positive trend to continue during the second half."
Punch, which floated last year, announced a maiden interim dividend of 2.1p, which it said was intended to represent about one third of the final dividend for the year ending 23 August 2003.
The company said group operating profit was up 9% to £115m, like-for-like contribution from pubs owned for at least two years, which represents 91% of the estate, was up 5% on like-for-like turnover up 2%, and earnings per share were up 41% to 19.4p.
Beer profits rose 8% to £67.4m, rental income was up 9% to £60m and machine income rose 35% to £6.8m. Cost of sales stayed steady at £78.2m, implying a cut in buying costs of around 4%, but administrative costs rose more than 13% to £24.2m
Punch said it had acquired 218 pubs in the period, spending approximately £92m on pub acquisitions since August 2002, and sold or delicensed 24, bringing the group total to 4,496 at the end of the financial period, an increase of 4.5%. Property disposals brought in proceeds of £7m and profit of £2m.
The company said it was creating a new post of customer service director which, it said, would provide "for the first time, a point of responsibility for all aspects of external relations." It was also launching the Punch Retailer Charter, "setting out all the major aspects of the relationship between the group and our customers."
It revealed it had made more than 700 conversions of former brewery managed pubs to tenancies in the past five years, and said more than 70% of its pubs had previously made up the core estates of former national brewers. Not counting the major acquisitions of Bass Lease Company, Vanguard and Inn Business, Punch has purchased over 600 pubs since it was formed, it said, with 27 more pubs bought since the end of the half year ,including 13 from Western Castle for £3.9m. Completion of the Western Castle deal is expected at the end of the month, and will increase the total estate to 4,517 pubs.
Group pub investment of more than £12m, matched by retailer investment of £2m, was generating incremental returns of approximately 30%, with 168 projects completed so far this year.
More than 400 Punch retailers went on one or more of the company's training programmes in the 28-week period, and in a recent review conducted by Leeds Metropolitan University, 85% of those who went on a course surveyed would recommend the training to another retailer, with 70% believing the training had directly improved their profitability, Punch said.
More than six out of 10 Punch pubs have now been through an Interbrew beer quality programme, Punch said. It now offered 47 real ales, with 20 new products being introduced to the estate through the cask ale promotion programme, “Finest Cask”, including beers from Hydes, Castle Eden and Hook Norton. Almost two in three Punch retailers currently benefit from food sales "from the simplest of offerings to award-winning gastro pubs", Punch said, an area which it expects to continue to grow.
Giles Thorley, chief executive of Punch Taverns, said: "Since the half year end, the resilient trading pattern of our estate has been maintained. We expect this positive trend to continue during the second half."
Punch, which floated last year, announced a maiden interim dividend of 2.1p, which it said was intended to represent about one third of the final dividend for the year ending 23 August 2003.
Punch Taverns interim results 28 weeks to 1 March 2003
|
| £m | % increase |
| Group turnover | 217.6 | 6.15% |
| Cost of sales | -78.2 | 0.00% |
| Gross profit | 139.4 | 9.94% |
| Administrative expenses | -24.2 | 13.08% |
| Operating profit | 115.2 | 9.30% |
| Profit on sale of fixed assets | 1.9 | -32.14% |
| Profit before interest and taxation | 117.1 | 8.23% |
| Interest receivable | 4.2 | 13.51% |
| Interest payable | -65.7 | 2.18% |
| Profit before tax | 55.6 | 16.81% |
| Tax on profit | -7.6 | -40.16% |
| Profit after tax | 48 | 37.54% |
| Ordinary dividend | -5.2 |
|
| Retained profit | 42.8 | 22.64% |
| Earnings per share basic (pence) | 19.4 |
|
| Diluted (pence) | 19.3 |
|
| Pro forma (pence) | 19.4 | 40.58% |
