Turnover of £17m for Buchanan's LT Pub Managament

LT Pub Management, the UK's largest pub management business next to Scottish & Newcastle Pub Company, has reported turnover of £16.9m in its first 10 months of trading.

The company, led by Billy Buchanan, was created on 19 February 2010 when it acquired LT Management Services with c.350 pubs under management from the administrator of London Town. It now runs around 1,100 pubs on leases, as temporary managed sites, under service agreements with other pub companies, insolvency practitioners or banks and also on a caretaker basis.

The business reported an operating loss before depreciation and amortisation of £227,000 for the period up to 26 December 2010. Included within this were non-recurring administration costs of £216,000, plus the costs of running sites under the agency agreement with the administrators of GRS Inns, leaving a small operating loss before depreciation and amortisation of £11,000. The operating loss after depreciation and amortisation was £296,000.

Revenue pressures​

LT highlighted concerns about the economy among principle risks and uncertainties for the trade.

"The economic environment, particularly consumer confidence and spending, re-mains very uncertain and increases in VAT and duty on alcohol will put additional pressure on revenues," said a spokesman.

"However, there are many factors involved in the ability of individual pubs to attract customers and the group continues to work with managers to enhance the trading potential of each site."

LT continues to attract good managers as its business continues to expand, but the company described the market for good managers as "very competitive".

LT's balance sheet includes £1.7m in trade and other receivables and the company said it was "not exposed to significant credit risk".

"The majority of the debt is management fees to other pubcos that are paid after the balance sheet date at contractually agreed points."

In the first half of 2011, LT has seen a strong showing across the group, resulting from improved performance in core trade and from new business that has been added during the past few months.