Shepherd Neame eyes potential for managed estate growth
He was speaking on the back of interim results published last week, which showed like-for-like sales in managed houses up 6.8% for the 26 weeks to 27 December 2014. Turnover was up 1.5% to £73.5m and operating profit before exceptionals increased 4.2% to £7.1m.
He said: “We feel we have a very solid base of business in our managed division — we have high turnover per site and good skills that we have built in the organisation.
"We certainly have the capability now and the capacity to increase that side of the business. We can do that either through acquisitions or conversions.”
Accommodation
Accommodation sales showed the highest growth during the six-month period with a 14.5% hike compared to a 4.9% rise for drinks and 7.8% for food. Shepherd Neame is currently undertaking a record £2.4m revamp of the Royal Wells Hotel, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Neame said the company would continue investment in its 347-strong estate, despite lingering uncertainty over the pubs code.
He said: “Our primary focus is property-led refurbishment where you really can transform the look and feel of the outlet. We are a long way from the days when the landlord would do some structural changes then leave the refurbishment to the tenant.”
Neame said he was now more confident that the company would not be unduly affected by the pubs code.
He said: “The sector is bedevilled by excessive Government intervention and we can be far more successful if we were confident in a stable regulatory environment. I’m encouraged by the sounds about exempting small companies like ourselves. We are exempt, but we are at the whim of politicians. If that was to change, it would make us fundamentally reassess the pace at which we are investing.”
