Mitchells & Butlers announces half year results

Announcing its results for the 28 weeks to April 15 2006, Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) said overall revenues rose 2.7 per cent to £887m, with pre-tax profits up 9.6 per cent at £91m.

Eearnings per share for the first half rose 18.5 per cent to 12.8p.

While overall revenue growth slowed in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, the group's pre-tax profitability increase nearly doubled.

M&B pointed to a 7.1 per cent rise in its pubs' average weekly take - £17,000 - and highlighted a seven per cent rise in wine and soft drinks volumes together with a one per cent growth in beer sales.

The group's pubs and bars saw sales up 1.6 per cent at £508m, with operating profits up 2.4 per cent at £86m.

Its restaurants' revenue rose 6.5 per cent in the period to £379m, with operating profits of £57m up 9.6 per cent.

The group said the five per cent of its estate in Scotland had seen like-for-like sales up 5.8 per cent in the seven weeks of trading since the implementation of the smoking ban.

M&B called for the industry to be given "clarity as soon as possible by government over the detailed regulations and timing for next year's ban in England".

Having suspended its share buyback programme while it rebuffed the advances of Robert Tchenguiz's R20 investment group, M&B said it would recommence the programme with immediate effect.

It planned to buy back the remaining £59m of the existing schedule by the end of the current financial year, and it said it anticipated returning a further £500m to shareholders by the end of this year.

M&B chairman Roger Carr paid tribute to the group's staff for their work during the R20 bid situation. "They have further improved like-for-like performance. This is a significant achievement, and I would like to thank them all for their loyalty, commitment and focus in a turbulent period of uncertainty," he said.

Current trading was improving, the group said, with revenue slightly ahead of the trend reported in the update of April 28.