REG - Marston's Plc - Trading for the 16-week period to 21 January 2023

Marston'sAnnouncement

24/01/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 6074N  Marston's PLC  24 January 2023

           24 January 2023

 

MARSTON'S PLC

("Marston's" or "the Group")

 

Trading for the 16-week period to 21 January 2023

Marston's PLC issues the following trading update for the 16-week period to 21
January 2023 ahead of the Annual General Meeting to be held at 10am today.

Sales comparisons are to the same period in FY2020 (including the 2019/20
festive period), being the last equivalent period of unrestricted trading
before Covid-19 or, for the most recent trading, the comparison relates to the
same period in FY2022. FY2022 results include the benefit of the temporary
reduced rate for VAT on food and non-alcoholic drinks.

Trading

Like-for-like sales for the 16-week period to 21 January 2023 were +12.9% vs.
FY2022, including the impact of the Omicron variant in December and January
last financial year. Like-for-like sales in the first eight weeks of the
16-week period to 26 November 2022 were +6.8% as previously reported, with
encouraging trading momentum continuing into the festive period. In the
following eight weeks like-for-like sales were +19.2% vs FY2022.

The comparative like-for-like figures vs FY2020 were +4.5% for the 16-week
period. Like-for-like sales in the first eight weeks to 26 November 2022 were
+5.0%, as previously reported. In the following eight weeks like-for-like
sales were +4.1% vs FY2020.

For the five key festive days (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New
Year's Eve and New Year's Day), like-for-like sales were +26% vs FY2022 and
+12.9% vs the 2019/20 festive period.

Total retail sales in the Group's managed and franchised pubs were up 14.0% on
last year and up 7.3% vs FY2020. Drink sales have continued to outperform food
sales, once again reinforcing the steadfast trading resilience of our
predominantly community pub estate.

Energy

The Group's electricity costs are now hedged for the entirety of FY2023 until
the end of September 2023, with no change to earnings guidance. The Group's
gas price is fixed until the end of March 2025 with no additional incremental
spend anticipated.

Andrew Andrea, CEO, commented:

"We have continued to see positive sales momentum through the festive season
and into the New Year, with particularly strong demand on the key Christmas
and New Year trading days. Whilst we still have certain cost challenges to
navigate in 2023, we are well-positioned to continue to progress our strategy
and are encouraged by the level of consumer resilience experienced to date.
The pub clearly remains an affordable treat which is attractive to consumers,
and we continue to see good traction from those sites within our portfolio
which have been converted to our Signature format.

Marston's pub estate is well-invested, and our geography and proposition lends
itself to benefit from underlying consumer trends. Whilst still early in the
New Year, trading momentum continues to build, and our primary focus remains
to meet our strategic goals of achieving £1 billion sales and reducing our
debt to below £1 billion with all the subsequent benefits that both of those
milestones will bring to our shareholders."

 

Forthcoming Events

Please find below the forthcoming reporting dates for Marston's, which are
also available on the investor calendar on our website -
www.marstonspubs.co.uk/investors (http://www.marstonspubs.co.uk/investors)

 2023 Interim results  16 May 2023

 

ENQUIRIES:

 Marston's PL     Tel: 01902 329516                                              Instinctif Partners    Tel: 020 7457 2010/2005
 Andrew Andrea, Chief Executive Officer                                          Justine Warren
 Hayleigh Lupino, Chief Financial Officer                                        Matthew Smallwood

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

·      Marston's is a leading pub operator with a 40% holding in
Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company

·      It operates an estate of 1,468 pubs situated nationally,
comprising managed, franchised and leased pubs

·      Marston's employs around 12,000 people

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