Pub chains enjoying good summer trade

15-Aug-2010 - Last updated on 27-Aug-2011 at 08:09 GMT

Food sales are holding up at managed chains

The UK's large managed pubs and restaurants are enjoying a good summer's trade with sales up in July. The Coffer Peach Business Tracker, which...

The UK's large managed pubs and restaurants are enjoying a good summer's trade with sales up in July.

The Coffer Peach Business Tracker, which monitor's the trading performance of 16 companies including Mitchells & Butlers, Whitbread, Pizza Hut, Punch Pub Co, Gondola and Tragus, reported a like-for-like sales increase of 1.9% in July on last year.

It follows 1.4% life-for-like growth in June. Total sales, which include those from new openings, were ahead 3.3% on June 2009.

"This is good news for the market, particularly as the impact of discounting is now being ironed out," said Peach Factory's Peter Martin.

"The bigger operators are showing a lot of resilience. These figures show strong demand from the public, and include the start of the school holidays. We may be experiencing a boost from holidaying at home this year."

Month-on-month, figures were up 26% on June, which despite good like-for-like comparisons had the generally negative effect of the football World Cup.

This July's result compares with a 1.0% increase in like-for-likes in the same month in 2009, and a 5.9% month-on-month increase.

David Coffer, chairman of the Coffer Group, said: "The final stages of the World Cup will undoubtedly have had an impact on these figures, in terms of additional turnover for mainly pub operators against the decrease in turnover for restaurants.

"Many restaurateurs suffered up to 30% reduction from normal turnover figures in the World Cup period. Since the tournament has finished, there has been a marked improvement across the board."

Will Hawkley, director in KPMG's Travel, Leisure and Tourism practice added: "The holiday season may have helped the sector maintain sales so far, but with Mervyn King's warning of a 'choppy recovery' to come, the outlook for the sector is unlikely to be plain sailing.

"Storm clouds are already gathering in the form of public sector spending cuts and the VAT hike.

"The impact of these challenges on consumer confidence remains to be seen, but as a typical bellwether of consumer spending the eating out sector could feel the brunt of any future downturn."