Young & Co's toasts summer of sport after interim earnings fizz

(Sharecast News) - Young & Co's Brewery reaffirmed its full-year outlook on Thursday, after hot, sunny weather and a summer of sport boosted interim earnings.

The 195-year-old pubs group saw revenues fizz 10.4% in the 26 weeks to 28 September, to £291.1m, or by 6.4% on a like-for-like basis, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation jumped 11.7% to £69.8m.

Young's, which has around 277 pubs across London and the south of England, said the period had benefited from a dry Easter weekend before one of the warmest summers on record got underway. Pubs with gardens and riverside locations saw like-for-like sales growth of 7.5%.

"The excellent weather also coincided nicely with the Fifa World Cup," Young's added. Total underlying sales across the five-week tournament rose by around £6.8m.

Simon Dodd, chief executive, said: "Our relentless focus on quality meant that when the sun shone and the matches were aired, customers chose Young's."

Looking to the rest of the year, and Young's said the second half had got off to a "strong" start, with like-for-like sales in the last six weeks up 5.1%. It flagged the rugby Autumn Nations Series competition, which it expected to provide "a welcome boost" to sales, while Christmas bookings were already up 11% year-on-year.

It concluded: "The macroeconomic environment and the impact this could have on consumer sentiment remains unpredictable. However, based on the strength of the first half, the quality of our estate, the contribution from Cubitt House and the Christmas season bookings so far, the board expects performance for the full financial year to be in line with recently upgraded market expectations."

Young's acquired Cubitt House, which owns nine west London sites, earlier this year for £29.1m.

As at 1330 GMT, shares in Young's - which was promoted to the FTSE 250 in October - had eased 2% to 1,108p.

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