M&B sales hit by World Cup
PUBS and restaurants group Mitchells & Butlers said yesterday sales growth slowed in June and July as diners were lured away by the attraction of the World Cup.
M&B, which has over 2,000 pubs and restaurants and whose brands include Harvester, All Bar One and Toby Carvery, said the World Cup had a “negative impact” on the group’s food sales.
Sales at outlets open for more than a year were up 1.2 per cent in the nine weeks to July 17, down from 1.8 per cent in the preceding 33 weeks.
Chief executive Adam Fowle said: “When an England football match kicks off mid-evening on a Friday or on a Sunday lunchtime, which are peak dining occasions, it knocks a number of people back who would normally come in.”
M&B, whose chains also include the Sizzling Pub company, O’Neills and the Premium Country Dining Group, is reshaping itself into a food-led business in a search for higher margins.
Drink-led rivals such as Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns have however seen their sales boosted by the World Cup.
Fowle said underlying trading remained strong and he was “very confident” about prospects for the fourth quarter.
M&B scrapped paying dividends in 2008 to focus on paying down debt. However, Fowle said the business would make a decision on the possible resumption of payouts in the autumn, depending on it reducing its unsecured bank borrowings to below £300m and on broader economic conditions.
The company, serves around 130m meals and 575m drinks each year to its customers.