Spirit Pub sales shine on sunnier weather

Shares in the company, which also owns chains such Chef & Brewer, Fayre & Square and Taylor Walker, rose as much as 4 per cent to 81 pence in early trade on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The company said comparable net sales rose 6 per cent during the 12 weeks to May 24 at its managed pubs.

“In March (last year) there was a lot of snow...and that particularly hurt the drink sales because people won’t just walk down to their local pub for a drink because it’s just too difficult,” chief executive Mike Tye said.

Like-for-like drink sales at its managed pubs jumped 7.1 per cent while food sales rose 4.8 per cent, the company said. Managed pubs account for about three quarters of Spirit Pub’s core earnings.

“Whilst Q3 was always going to look good against a softcomparative, the progress at Spirit continues to impress,” Peel Hunt analyst Nick Batram wrote in a note.

Spirit Pub’s CEO declined to quantify any gain from the World Cup that begins tomorrow but said he hoped it would be positive for the company.

Restaurants and pubs are anticipating better sales this summer, helped by the Government’s extension of licensing hours during the tournament allowing fans to spend more time at their local watering holes.

“I expect Brazil to win but I hope England will win,” said Mr Tye.