Pubs owner Mitchells and Butlers saw profits before tax subside slightly at the half year stage but at least the key metric of like-for-like sales (LFL) was going in the right direction.
Statutory profit before tax in the 28 weeks to April 7th was down £1m at £42m.
LFL sales were up 0.2% year-on-year since the last trading update, which was 11 weeks before the end of the reporting period, despite LFL "wet" sales falling 0.8%; food sales picked up the slack and rose 0.9% in the 11 weeks to April 7th.
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For the full 28-week reporting period, LFL sales were up 2.7%, with food sales up 3.4% and drink sales up 2.2%.
More to follow ...
JH
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