Burtonwood unveils 16.9% profits jump

Pub operator Burtonwood Brewery announced an underlying profits jump of 16.9 per cent to £11.2m.

The company put the rise down to acquisitions made during the year.

The 445-strong company bought the freeholds of 96 pubs already under its control, from American property specialist JER, and is now looking for more pubs.

The North-West pub operator said it had access to up to £50m for new acquisitions. "We are keen to grow the estate and become a bigger player," said finance director Nigel Wimpenny.

"We now have a superb platform on which to build.

"We can afford to pay as much as Enterprise, Pubmaster or Punch, but we can also afford to be a bit more choosey - we have enough organic growth not to rush into big deals."

The company this week exchanged contracts on the disposal of 31 "bottom-end" pubs to a Manchester-based operator. It will incur a loss of £2.1m against the book value of the pubs.

Burtonwood now runs a managed estate of about 36 houses and a tenanted arm of 409 pubs, all in the suburban market.

"The community pub sector is a good place to be at the moment," said Nigel Wimpenny. "We are a million miles away from the problems of the high street."

Managed like-for-like sales rose one per cent.

Burtonwood will write-off £750,000 updating the value of its remaining 445 pubs plus £600,000 in costs associated with the 96 pubs bought from JER.

"We could write this off over the next 20 years but we think it is much better and cleaner to do it now," said Mr Wimpenny.

The company has a long-term goal of growing its estate to 1,000 pubs.