Major Fife pubs and hotels group cheers return to profit

A major Fife pubs and hotels group returned to profit last year.

New filings at Companies House show Kingdom Taverns Group Limited eased into the black in the year to July 31 2016 with a pre-tax profit of £14,163.

The results contrast with a loss in 2015 of £381,337 and came as the company enjoyed a jump in sales.

Total revenues for the year came in at £6.29 million, a £670,000 uplift on the prior year’s total of £5.62m.

The group is the parent company of Kirkcaldy-based Kingdom Taverns Ltd.

The group was established in 1991 and has grown from small beginnings in the Lang Toun to be a significant player in the independent pub trade.

The group’s pub estate includes the Tipsy Cow, Society and Penny Farthing in its home town but it also operates hostelries in other locations across Fife including St Andrews, Leven, Glenrothes, Ballingry and Dunfermline.

The company also has interests in Dundee, Crieff and Auchterarder as well as more in Falkirk, Stirling, Dumfriesshire and Edinburgh.

The group leases bars to third party licensees but the accounts show it carried an in-house team of 158 staff in 2016, a significant rise on the average employee count of 134 it had in 2015.

In his strategic report to the group accounts, director Edward Dean Melville said the company faced increased competition in the marketplace and pressure on margins.

However, he said the firm was well positioned.

“The directors aim to maintain the management policies adopted during the period to 31 July 2016 and consider the group is well placed to take advantage of opportunities which may arise in the current year.”

The accounts list director Edward Quin Melville as the group’s ultimate controlling party.