Young's hails the Local Heroes campaign as policy pays off

The group, which has 220 pubs and brews Bombardier through its Wells & Young's joint venture, grew revenues by 0.7 per cent to 67.7m in the six months to September 27, as adjusted pre-tax profits lifted 8.4 per cent to 13.4m.

It hailed the strength of food sales following a drive to focus on British cuisine, while it also benefited from a Local Heroes campaign to push locally brewed ales, such as Old Hooky, Butcombe Bitter and Sambrook's Wandle.

The company's 13 hotels, which were recently rebranded as Young's, saw sales grow by 18.7 per cent in the period.

Young's, which is working on plans to brew special ales to celebrate April's royal wedding and the London Olympics in 2012, said recent trading remained positive, with like-for-like sales in its managed pubs estate up 1.8 per cent in the last seven weeks, compared with 0.8 per cent in the half-year.

The Wandsworth-based company said it had been resilient to the recession due to its focus on London and the south-east and the premium end of the market.

The results were boosted by a good performance from Wells & Young's, with sales up 1.5 per cent and pre-exceptional profits 18 per cent higher.

But sales through its tenanted pubs were flat, with a 4.2 per cent decline in profits, as the company provided more financial support.

Hugh-Guy Lorriman, an analyst at Seymour Pierce, retained his 'buy' rating for the company yesterday, saying that the results were better than had been expected.

He forecast the company would make 21.5m of pre-tax profits in the year.