Leading pub companies see August sales dive

Trading across the larger pub and restaurant chains fell more than 16 per cent in August, with poor weather and the fag-end of the World Cup tournament taking the main blame for the slump.

The monthly Coffer Peach Business Tracker revealed that like-for-like sales registered by 17 leading pub and restaurant companies rose 1.5 per cent in August 2010 compared with the same month last year, but that month-on-month overall sales fell 16.1 per cent.

Richard Hathaway, who heads the travel, leisure and tourism practice at accountants KPMG - a member of the Business Tracker - said the performance of the companies being monitored remained solid, compared with the ups and downs being experienced by smaller operators.

As to the July to August slump, Hathaway said it could be due in part to the end of the World Cup, coupled with poorer weather conditions. "If so, this may sound alarm bells for autumn sales if poorer weather conditions take hold," he added.

Trevor Watson, director at Davis Coffer Lyons - another Tracker member - said what recovery there was appeared to be led by the South East "where the impact of sustained low interest rates continues to buoy consumer confidence and spending".

Watson added that recent corporate deals suggested "savvy investors" were seeing opportunities in the sector.

However, he warned that a major unknown for operators and consumers alike was the Chancellor's spending review next month, "the details of which have the potential to de-rail the recovery nationwide".

The Coffer Peach Tracker monitors the trading performance of 17 companies including Punch Pub Company, Mitchells & Butlers, Whitbread and Pizza Hut.