Smart strategies deliver for indie brewer Marston's

Business is tough but, with sales growing, Marston’s is a buy for the brave, says Phil Oakley.

The business

Brewing and pub retailing operator Marston's owns 2,150 pubs and is one of the country's leading independent brewers. Its pubs have three different ownership models. Most of its 500 company-managed pubs consist of pub restaurants, where the focus is on offering good food at reasonable prices in a family-friendly environment. It also has some town-centre bars trading under the Pitcher & Piano brand. Marston's has 1,000 tenanted pubs where landlords rent the premises and agree to buy beer from the company. A further 600 pubs are based on franchises, where the landlord gets more help with food, drink, fixtures and fittings but pays a proportion of sales back to Marston's. The company has five regional breweries, which make premium cask ales, such as Marston's Pedigree and Hobgoblin.

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Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.