Oakman hails ‘record’ sales in FY22

The Oakman Group Plc has revealed its total sales surged 79% to £65.1m for the financial year ending 3 July 2022 (FY22), reportedly outperforming the Coffer CGA tracker of industry sales. Like-for-like sales are up 51.2% from FY21 and up 19.9% from pre-Covid levels in FY20, while total sales have increased 55.4% on a three-year basis. Additionally, total group sales in June hit £7.1m for the five weeks to 3 July, rising 48.9% from FY19 and like-for-like sales are also up 11% from FY19. However, Oakman was hit “hard” by Christmas cancellations, and sales remained soft through to the spring. Oakman said that recent weeks have been much better with buoyant sales over the rest of June, although the Jubilee week was “not as strong” as the company had hoped for. Additionally, the company was hit with staffing challenges due to restricted trading, and Oakmans estimates that the business has lost around a further 2-3% of growth. Oakman said that, accordingly, it has had to slow its opening programme down as it has become more cautious. The company also faces a “high degree” of uncertainty driven by the wider geo-political issues such as the war in Ukraine, and the runaway inflation will reportedly have an impact on profit. Meanwhile, Oakman has continued to add and develop new sites. It said its three “major” openings – The Rose in Wokingham, The Grand Junction Arms in Bulbourne and The Grand Junction inBuckingham – have all performed ahead of their investment targets. Oakman has also recently acquired The Hesketh Arms in Rufford, Lancashire, and are currently on-site with The Beech House in Watford which will open in September. Overall, the company acquired six pubs and the intellectual property of The Seafood Pub Company in early 2021. Since then, four sites have been added under the leadership of Joycelyn Neve and further additions will occur over the next twelve months. Peter Borg-Neal, executive chairman, said: “Whichever way you look at the comparisons, these results represent an excellent performance. Certainly, Oakman has consistently outperformed the Coffer CGA tracker of industry sales. “Following the end of lockdown and Covid restrictions, staff shortages and the impact of inflation have become the biggest challenges we face as a management team. I believe our CEO Dermot King and his team have done an excellent job, in the circumstances, and we are well placed to make further progress in the year.”