Profits up to £4.5m for Brains

The company, which is led by Scott Waddington and operates over 270 pubs, bars and hotels across Wales and the West of England, said that turnover for the year increased 14% to £113.6m, while EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) climbed 7.8% to £11.6m.

The group said that like-for-like sales for the 12 months across its managed estate increased 3.6%, while leased and tenanted like-for-like sales climbed 2% on the previous year.

It said that cask ale volumes in its managed and leased & tenanted pubs grew by 5% and 3% respectively during the year. The group also reported that its take home volumes had doubled in four years.

The company, which acquired the 15-strong Coffee#1 chain last October, said that like-for-like sales were up 5% across its managed pub estate in its current financial year, while tenanted net sales were also in growth.

The group said that trading to date at Coffee#1 had been ahead of expectation. It has opened three new Coffee#1 sites (one in Exeter and two in Cardiff) since acquiring the chain and has identified a number of further potential new sites for the brand.

Earlier, this year it said it was confident it could deliver its plan to open between six and 10 new sites under the Coffee#1 format during 2012, with expansion focused on south west England rather than Wales.

Waddington, chief executive of Brains, said: “Everyone in the company has worked extremely hard this year, providing momentum to take the business forward. The tough economic backdrop has been well documented, but despite these challenges the business’ performance was creditable, reflecting our underlying strengths. We have grown sales in nearly every trading division, increased investment in our retail estate with positive results, and achieved our operating profit forecast.

“Sponsorship remains the key focal point of our marketing activity and we remain the official ale of the Welsh Rugby Union, the Football Association of Wales, and Glamorgan Cricket.

“We have also invested in a new craft brewery, which is currently being installed alongside our existing brewery plant on the Cardiff Brewery site, and will allow us to produce a wider range of beers.”

Brains’ Chairman John Rhys said: “ We remain cautious about the trading conditions that we expect to experience, and will therefore continue to focus on effectively delivering our customer service offers and also look for growth opportunities such as our diversification into the coffee market. Family shareholders are fully supportive of our continued long-term strategy of investing in our brand, retail estate and people.

“We also remain concerned about the Government’s apparent lack of support for our industry in terms of the increasing tax burden that we face – in the case of SA Brain, our total tax bill was around £46m last year, from a business with a turnover of £113m.”