M&B: Trading strong this year

BRITISH pub operator Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) – in which Irish financiers John Magnier and JP McManus are significant shareholders – said trading has been strong since the start of its current financial year, at the end of September.

The group, which controls about 2,000 pubs in Britain across a number of well-known chains including All Bar One and O’Neill’s, said – via a trading statement – that total sales in the 14 weeks to the beginning of January were up by 3.3%, on a year-on-year basis.

Sales in its high street pubs were up by 1.6% over the same time frame and net margins were up by 1.5% as a result of lower energy costs, pricing changes and reduced food cost inflation.