Young’s H1 revenues rise 27.2% to £250m
The pub group invested a total of £21.7m during H1, with £19.4m going into its existing estate and the other £2.3m going to the newly-acquired City Pub Group estate
Young’s has reported that total revenues rose 27.2% to £250m for the 26-week period to 30 September, as like-for-like revenues rose 4.4% due to an “excellent” Euros turnout.
During the period, adjusted EBITDA also rose 23.2% to £59m and managed house EBITDA increased by 25.1% to £73.8m.
Despite continued National Living Wage increases of almost 10%, utility costs and dual running costs from Young’s City Pub Group acquisition in the first quarter, adjusted operating profits rose by £7.1m to £38.1m during the first half.
The pub group invested a total of £21.7m during the first half, with £19.4m going into its existing estate and the other £2.3m going to the newly-acquired City Pub Group estate.
As of 1 April, Young’s freehold estate was valued at £1bn.
For the last eight weeks, the group’s like-for-like managed house revenues were ahead of last year by 6%, and by 9.2% in the last three weeks. Young’s believes this demonstrates the benefit of the Autumn Internationals.
Like-for-like managed house revenue for the last eight weeks was ahead of last year by 6.0%; and accelerating to 9.2% in the last three weeks, demonstrating the benefit of the Autumn Internationals.
Simon Dodd, CEO of Young’s, said: “We’ve achieved a huge amount as a business in the last six months, reflected in another strong set of results. I am very pleased with our performance and the progress we have made during the period, which has been achieved despite some challenges. The weather was frustrating yet again, however, EURO24 and England’s successful run to the final provided a welcome boost to drink sales.
“The new government’s budget will result in significantly increased costs for our industry in the near term through rises in National Minimum Wage and Employer’s NI payments. We expect the cost impact to be approximately £11m on an annualised basis from next April. We will work to see how we can mitigate these headwinds without passing on all the cost to our loyal customers. We would like to see certainty and delivery of real business rate reform which will benefit all hospitality businesses.”
He added: “Given the quality of our estate and on-going strategy, we remain confident in our ability to deliver long-term growth, including achieving the planned synergies from the City Pub Group acquisition.”