Young’s, the brewer and pub operator, has reported an 11% increase in total sales across its managed house for the start of its current financial year.
In an AGM statement the company said it had experienced “good like-for-like trading” for the start of the year, with a number of its pubs benefiting from the World Cup.
The company’s pubs, many of which have outside areas, have also benefited from the recent heatwave.
The company said it had acquired eight pubs since the start of the financial year, and was in advanced negotiations on five others. The acquisitions will take its estate up to 221 managed and tenanted pubs.
Young’s also announced that it was making good progress on the integration of its brewing activities into the Wells & Young’s Brewing Company (WYBC), which was formed in a merger with Charles Wells at the end of May.
Under the terms of the deal Young's holds a 40% stake in WYBC, with the remaining 60% being held by Charles Wells. The two company's pub divisions will remain independent.
The new company is set to own, brew and wholesale the combined beer portfolio of the two groups, which includes Bombardier, Red Stripe, Special as well as Young's eponymous standard bitter.
Stephen Goodyear, the company’s chief executive, said that taste matching trials were going well and that he was “confident that customers will be more than satisfied by the quality of Young’s beers when they are brewed by the new venture”.
The company also announced that it was in advanced negotiations regarding the disposal of its Ram Brewery site and the nearby Buckhold Road offices in Wandsworth.
The sale is expected to raise about £80m, with the company planning to use the cash to fund the acquisition of between 50 and 100 pubs.
Young’s said the year ahead was set to be a “period of considerable change” as the integration process with Charles Wells continued but it was confident that the changes would enable it to make “a step change in the financial performance of the business”.
