Young has celebrated a “historic year” as he prepares for a summer of sport, with Euro 2024 starting and the Olympic Games to come.
The group, which owns 288 pubs and 1,066 hotel rooms across the country, posted revenues of £389m in the year to the beginning of April, up 5 per cent on the previous year.
Young’s was boosted by its £158m acquisition of The City Pub Group in November. The deal added 55 pubs to increase the size of its estate to 288 premises.
It delivered a £7.2m revenue boost in one month after being completed in early March. Profits reached £49.4 million, up 9 per cent on the previous year.
The game begins: fans flock to pubs as a sporting summer begins with Euro 2024
Boss Simon Dodd said the acquisition was “a real milestone” after a “historic year”.
The group has invested £84.5m in its pubs and hotels during the year.
This included £36.5m across eight individual acquisitions and a further £48m in refurbishments of 35 existing pubs.
The festive period had its best sales week just before Christmas and its best day on December 15.
And while the January blues affected sales, Young’s stood out during the Six Nations in February and at the Cheltenham festival in March.
An earlier Easter, which included two Easter weekends during the same financial year, was also a boost.
Looking ahead, Dodd said the group “faces some challenges”, including high inflation affecting punters, but told shareholders “there is a lot to be excited about this year”.
“This summer we have a festival of sport, starting with the Euros, Wimbledon and the Olympic Games, followed by the return of the autumn rugby internationals, which provides a fantastic opportunity given our rugby heritage,” he said.
Despite the bad weather, total sales for the past nine weeks increased 24 percent year-on-year.
Young’s board announced a dividend of 10.88 pence, raising the full-year payout 6 per cent to 21.76 pence, “reflecting our strong earnings performance and positive outlook,” the company said .
Peel Hunt analyst Douglas Jack said the company suffers from “one of the lowest valuations in the pub sector” despite being “one of the best performing operators”.
Overall sales were up 15 percent compared to before the pandemic, which Jack said was “materially ahead of the market.”
