Enterprise Inns sees 4.4% decline in like-for-like net income
The company also said it has completed or exchanged on 88 pubs for £32m in the period, with 34 in the hands of solicitors, expected to generate a further £17m. Enterprise also announced the appointment of Peter Baguley, who headed property functions at Sainsburys and Boots, as a new non-executive director.
Enterprise said it’s on track to deliver proceeds from asset disposals of £150m for the full year. It said total net debt is expected to decline by £0.2bn to £2.5bn during the financial year.
The company expected its like-for-like performance is expected to improve during the remainder of the year.
"A number of factors have made the first four months of the year unusually challenging. The poor weather during much of the period has not been helpful, particularly when compared to the Indian summer of October 2011 which was very good for trade.
"Trading in the weeks around Christmas and the New Year was strong and produced welcome respite. However, the extreme weather conditions of the last two weeks, with snow across much of the country, have led to reduced footfall and a consequential loss of beer volume which we estimate to have reduced our net income by £1.5m.
"As we signalled at our Preliminary Results announcement in November 2012, the cessation of trading on 1 October 2012 of Waverley, our wines and spirits distributor, adversely impacted the business because we were unable to supply wines and spirits to our publicans and resulted in a direct loss of some £1m of trading income. However, we have now signed a new two year distribution agreement with Carlsberg which will become operational in the next few weeks such that income from wines and spirits should return to normalised levels by the end of March."
The company said it "continues to dispose of unsustainable pubs, enhancing the quality of the retained estate and we are also capturing opportunities to dispose of exceptional properties where we can realise cash proceeds above book value and at healthy multiples of income".
Enterprise added: "We expect trading conditions to remain difficult in 2013 as consumers face economic uncertainty and publicans have to manage rising cost pressures. Our focus on enhancing the quality of our estate, attracting and retaining the right publicans and providing exceptional support will leave us well placed in the year ahead. Despite a challenging start our target is to return the business to like-for-like net income growth in the second half of this year."
It added: "We are pleased to announce that Peter Baguley will be appointed to the board immediately following today’s Annual General Meeting as a new non-executive director. Peter has held a number of senior management positions in the UK retail sector with a strong focus upon property. He was the leader of the Group property functions at both J Sainsbury Plc and Boots Plc and has most recently advised one of the largest global real estate services groups on retail corporate strategy."
It follows the retirement today of David Harding after nearly ten years as a non-executive director and three years as the company’s senior independent director.
"The Board would like to thank David for his valued contribution over the last ten years. David Maloney will become the new senior independent director."
