City briefs
- Pub operators with a limited town centre presence, including Wolverhampton & Dudley, Greene King and Enterprise Inns, are best placed to ride out the current tough trading conditions, according to new market analysis by bankers HSBC.
The bank expects high street trading to remain tough throughout this year and says intense competition and heavy discounting is now restricting like-for-like sales and hitting margins.
"We believe community pubs will continue to outperform, hence our preferred stocks of Enterprise Inns, W&DB and Greene King," said HSBC.
Midlands brewer Hardy & Hansons is seeing strong trading in its pub estate, as well as improved beer sales.
Chairman Richard Hanson told shareholders at the company's annual meeting that "the company has traded in line with our expectations during the first 20 weeks of the current financial year to February 21 2003, continuing the delivery of positive retail performance and increased beer volumes".
The pub estate is "proving resilient in the current economic climate," added Mr Hanson.
County Estate Management has acquired 23 pubs from Cheshire-based Busy Pubs. The houses, located in Manchester and the North West, takes County Estate's portfolio to around 500.
The company said it planned several other acquisitions to continue the expansion if its nationwide estate.
Japanese brewer Kirin is aiming to expand its range of low-alcohol drinks. Kirin, whose flagship beer is brewed and distributed by Charles Wells in the UK, said it was widening the scope of its business "to better meet the diversifying needs of customers".
With the Japanese economy continuing to show signs of recession, Kirin has seen strong sales of happo-shu low alcohol beer as well as a sharp rise in demand for low-alcohol FAB chu-hi.
