Mitchells and Butlers sees positive Christmas sales
Pub and casual dining operator Mitchells & Butlers had a positive Christmas despite the poor weather, with sales up 2.5% over the past nine weeks.
Meanwhile, like-for-like sales from 23 December to 3 January - the Christmas period which was unaffected by the snow - rose 6.7%.
But the company warned it was "cautious" for the coming year, given rising input costs and the level of customer spending as the economy continues to falter.
In October and November the Group completed the acquisition of 22 Ha Ha Bar & Grill sites and the sale of 333 pubs to the Stonegate Pub Company and has now reduced its net debt to around £2b.
It also reported that it saw "encouraging" results from its first two Harvester sites on retail parks and was on track to open 50 new sites across its brands in the current year, along with 70 conversions from the existing estate.
Commenting on the results, chief executive Adam Fowle said: "This is a very good start to the year with like-for-like food sales up 6% helped by a strong Christmas performance. These trading results, together with the encouraging performance from the two new Harvester retail park sites and the improving new openings pipeline, show that we are on track to implement our growth strategy and indicate the future potential within the business."
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By Neil Gerrard
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