Young & Co's Brewery – Half-year Report September 2020

YOUNG & CO.'S BREWERY, P.L.C.

INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE 26 WEEKS ENDED 28 SEPTEMBER 2020

 

 

 

 

2020

2019

 

£m

£m

 

 

 

Revenue

55.1

168.2

 

 

 

Adjusted EBITDA1

2.9

47.2

 

 

 

Adjusted operating (loss)/profit1

(14.3)

30.9

 

 

 

Adjusted (loss)/profit before tax1

(19.2)

26.6

 

 

 

Net debt

203.8

227.2

 

 

 

Net debt to EBITDA2

5.8x

2.7x

 

 

 

Operating (loss)/profit

(16.9)

28.6

 

 

 

(Loss)/profit before tax

(21.8)

24.3

 

 

 

Adjusted basic (loss)/earnings per share1

(28.57)p

42.85p

 

 

 

Basic (loss)/earnings per share

(32.84)p

38.16p

 

 

 

Interim dividend per share

10.57p

 

All of the results above are from continuing operations.

 Reference to an “adjusted” item means that item has been adjusted to exclude non-underlying items (see note 3).

 Net debt to EBITDA has been calculated based on the last 12 months' actual EBITDA of £35.3 million (see note 3).

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

· Total revenue for the period was £55.1 million, with an adjusted EBITDA of £2.9 million; managed house EBITDA for the period was £8.0 million

· Lengthy period of closure had significant impact on results; adjusted operating loss of £14.3 million, and adjusted loss before tax was £19.2 million

· Total revenue for the 10 weeks since opening on 20 July was encouragingly 84% of last year

· Adjusted operating profit for August and September was £5.9 million with an operating margin of 12.1% and positive cash flow; like-for-like sales for 10 weeks trading was 81%

· Placing of new shares in June raised net proceeds of £84.8 million which allowed us to strengthen our balance sheet and kick start our 18-month investment programme this autumn (with five pubs completed and back on-site at a further two pubs)

· Net debt has improved by £76.6 million to £203.8 million since the year-end; with bank headroom of £159.8 million, we have liquidity in place to weather further restrictions including the current four-week circuit breaker

· The company announced in May that in view of the ongoing closure of the company's pubs, the expected lower levels of trade when they re-opened and the terms of the new £20.0 million revolving credit facility with NatWest, the company would not be paying an interim dividend

· Despite the introduction of curfew restrictions and London's Tier 2 status, since the period end, the trading of our managed house division had been encouraging at 73% of last year until all our pubs closed on 5 November

Patrick Dardis, Chief Executive of Young's, commented:

“Our business recently celebrated 189 years and the last six months has been one of the toughest periods in that incredible journey.

The resilience of our customers has truly amazed us. The cautious approach we adopted and the safe environment we provided were key reasons why our customers flocked back in large numbers. The continued efforts of our pub staff to go above and beyond in protecting our customers in these challenging conditions is a testament to our wonderful people.

As a business we benefitted from the Government's “Eat Out to Help Out” campaign throughout August, which boosted midweek footfall with diners attracted by the headline 50% discount. We also made use of the Government's much welcomed furlough scheme which enabled us to protect the jobs of nearly 5,000 employees.

Despite the challenges presented to us, our rural pubs and hotels, particularly those in the South West and in coastal regions, have delivered like-for-like growth against last year benefitting from the staycations and weekend visitors. These tougher times have also demonstrated our strength in controlling our cost base in a very efficient manner.

Whilst we were hoping that a further lockdown could have been avoided, the second lockdown with the financial support available from the Government will be considerably less damaging to our business than the potential move to Tier 3 in the areas that we operate. We remain positive at the prospect of trading in December.”

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