Profit boost for Mitchells & Butlers
The pubco – which oversees dining brands Toby Carvery, Harvester and Miller & Carter – took in a profit of £130m for the year to 29 September 2018, up from £77m in the previous period.
Its adjusted operating profits saw a 1.6% fall to £303m.
The company’s full year like-for-like sales increased by 1.3%, despite unexpected weather conditions throughout the year and the World Cup having a knock-on impact on trading.
It said the last reported period of like-for-like sales was free from such one-off events and had seen a growth of 2.2%.
Priority areas
Chief executive Phil Urban said: “Focus on our three priority areas of building a more balanced business; instilling a more commercial culture; and driving an innovation agenda has continued to move the business forward over the financial year.
“The implementation of the second wave of initiatives from our transformation programme has resulted in sustained like-for-like sales growth, continued market outperformance and a return to profit growth in the second half despite Easter moving into the first half.
“We continue to work hard on driving efficiency gains and profitable sales growth through the ongoing rollout of initiatives to mitigate the cost headwinds impacting the industry.
"Overall, the company is positioned well to continue creating shareholder value in the long term.”
The company said it would be keeping its eye on the “challenges that any changes in the free movement of labour resulting from Brexit might bring”.
