Marston's confident of meeting expectations
PUBS and brewing group Marston's reported a small increase in first-half pretax profits, in line with forecasts, and said it was confident of meeting expectations for the full year.
The company, which operates over 2,150 pubs and five breweries, said pre-tax profits for the half year to April 3 were 27.8m up 0.4 per cent on a year earlier and in line with analysts' expectations.
Marston's said recent trading had been in line with expectations with sales at pubs open for more than a year up 1.2 per cent on the year before.
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Hide AdAnalysts' forecasts for full-year pre-tax profits currently range between 70.5m and 76m.
On Wednesday, rival Mitchells & Butlers reported a better than expected first-half pre-tax profits.
Marston's is paying an interim dividend of 2.1p per share.