20/06/2023 08:32:00
Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) has been tipped as the frontrunner in the sale of 250 of Whitbread's 440 pub-restaurants. According to The Times, the Premier Inn owner is restricting the auction of the sites to established pub operators in an estimated £600m sale process. The business, which is being advised by Goldman Sachs, is understood to have approached established pub companies, including Greene King, Heineken, Marston's and Punch, in order to avoid a drawn-out process reports the Restaurant.
The chief executive of pub group Fuller's is "more optimistic" about the future than he has been "since before the pandemic" after the company reported a 33% boost in revenue. In a trading update for the 53 weeks to April 2023, the group announced a 76% increase in adjusted profit before tax to £12.7m, compared to £7.2m in 2022. The Caterer reports that the company earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation (EBITDA) rose to £51.8m from £44.3m, while revenue grew by 33% to £336.6m from £253.8m.
Brasserie Bar Co has announced it will become the Heartwood Collection, marking the Group's strategy and evolution into becoming a freehold pub company underpinned by a premium brasserie division, advises Hospitality & Catering News. The move reflects the next natural step for the Group, underlining Heartwood's ambition to become a market-leading operator of freehold premium pubs and pubs-with-rooms in the UK. Heartwood Collection is the Group that currently operates 20 premium pubs and 14 Brasserie Blanc restaurants across the UK, planning to grow significantly as a freehold business in future years. As a result of this move, White Brasserie Company, one of the Group's brands will become Heartwood Inns on 6th July.
The UK economy eked out a return to growth in April as rising car sales and customers spending in pubs and bars helped output to recover from a wave of public sector strikes in the previous month. The Office for National Statistics said last week that gross domestic product rose by a slender 0.2% month on month, matching the forecasts of City economists for a recovery from March when output declined by 0.3%. Fuelled by an increase in consumer spending in the country's dominant services sector, the rise in activity was partly offset by a dip in health sector output, which was affected by junior doctors' strikes, advises The Guardian.
The Newcastle-based Vaulkhard Group is expanding after securing a new £4.5m funding package, Pub & Bar has advised. The operator, which owns a number of bars and pubs in the city, including Barluga, Redhouse and The Beehive, has already purchased two pubs using the HSBC funding. It has acquired Town Wall and Bridge Tavern, both located in central Newcastle, taking its total number of trading sites to 15.
The appetite for low calorie, gluten free and sustainable beers is growing with almost half of Brits saying they perceive them to be healthier than other beers, reports Caterer Licensee Hotelier News.