Po Na Na slump

Bar operator Po Na Na experienced a dip in sales and profits in the six months to the end of September. Turnover fell year-on-year from £17.2m to £16m with profits down from £1.3m to £0.9m. The company blamed difficulties operating sites that are up for sale while outlets at Brighton and Portsmouth are among those trading above expectations. A jar is born CH Marlow is investing £60,000 in its new brewing venture the Breconshire Brewery which will produce its first beer before Christmas. The brewery will have the capacity to produce 50 barrels a week and the first two beers to be launched will be the 3.7% Breacon County Ale and the 4.2% Golden Valley.CH Marlow is already an established wholesaler serving 100 premises and owns eight pubs in South Wales. Mixing marvel Barman Jamie Stephenson, who works at the Cosmopolitan Spirit in Manchester, has won the best cocktail bartender award at the Manchester Bar and Club Awards organised by media group Emap and the magazine Moving Manchester. Stephenson recently won International Bartender of the Year at an event in Barcelona. Leisure bucks trend The leisure sector is one of only seven industries to see profitability grow in the 12 months to June, according to the latest Corporate Health Check published by business information company Experian. It says leisure's profitability rose from 10.6% to 11.1% at a time when the average return on capital among the 2,000 businesses questioned across a variety of industries fell from 10.4% to 7.6%. Sales slow-down Inventive Leisure chairman John Green has reported that trading has slowed with like-for-like sales up only 1.2% in the 20 weeks to the middle of November compared with the 4.2% rise after the first 10 weeks of its trading year. The Revolution brand now accounts for 93% of the company's sales, with 10 openings in the last year and five more bars launching this month, taking the number of outlets to 42.