PRESSURES

Mitchells & Butlers, the restaurant and pubs giant behind a host of brands including All Bar One, Browns and Toby Carvery, has vowed to press on with its efficiency drive after booking a fall in profits.

Full-year results yesterday revealed a fall in pre-tax profits to £77 million for the year to the end of September, compared with £94m a year earlier. That was despite higher revenues of £2.18 billion, up from £2.09bn.

The group, whose other brands include Harvester, O’neill’s and steak chain Miller & Carter, said full-year like-for-like sales rose by 1.8 per cent accelerating to a 2.3 per cent gain in the first seven weeks of the new financial year.

The board has recommended a final dividend of 5p per share, giving a full-year payout of 7.5p.

However, M&B added: “We do not expect to declare an interim dividend in the current financial year but will make an assessment of payout at the end of the year based on a full year of trading and development of the

0 The leisure group’s vast portfolio includes the Toby Carvery business

PHIL URBAN, CEO sector outlook.” Chief executive Phil Urban told investors: “This year, we have continued to make progress on our three priority areas: building a more balanced business; instilling a more commercial culture; and driving an innovation agenda.

“This has resulted in a period of strong operational achievement for Mitchells & Butlers with a sustained return to likefor-like sales growth driving market outperformance.”

He added: “Cost headwinds across the industry have adversely affected margins but we continue to work hard to mitigate as much of these as possible through our focus on efficiency and profitable sales growth.

“Overall, we believe that the progress we have made this year positions the company well to deliver long-term shareholder value.”

Shares in M&B came under pressure as investors reacted to the news that inflationary pressures were eating into margins.

Analysts at Numis Securities highlighted “solid trading” at

“Cost headwinds across the industry have affected margins but we continue to work hard to mitigate as much of these as possible.”