Young’s has reported like-for-like sales in its managed house arm up 5.2% in the first 13 weeks of the current financial year, with total sales for the division up 8.8%.
In a statement ahead of today’s annual general meeting, chairman Stephen Goodyear said the company was trading against tough comparatives, with an 8.6% lfl rise recorded for the same period last year.
He said Young’s continued to see benefits from the seven acquisitions made last year, and the three transfers from the company’s tenanted arm, Ram Pub Company. Both the Park (Teddington) with 43 bedrooms and the Bridge (Chertsey) with 51 rooms, which were acquired at the end of March, will undergo redevelopment during the coming year. The Naturalist (Woodberry Down) is also about to open, while the group is poised to start fitting out a further site in Kidbrooke Village.
Goodyear said: “The macro-economic and political environment remains challenging and the continued uncertainty surrounding Britain’s future trading relationship with Europe is unhelpful for businesses. In addition, our sector faced huge cost headwinds last year and while these pressures have continued into the current year, they have slightly moderated.
“Despite these challenges, we remain confident in our winning strategy of running differentiated well-invested, individual, premium pubs in excellent locations, which has a proven track record of outperforming the sector. We will continue to invest in our estate, our technology and our people and therefore, when combined with the hard work put in by our teams throughout Young’s, we remain positive about the year ahead.”
