Harveys assesses case for pub disposals

The company said its pre-tax profits fell 8% to £2.2m in 2012, as beer volumes again declined. Turnover for Harveys, which operates c.50 pubs, dropped 4.7% to £18.4m and operating profits declined 3.7% to £2.3m. Elder described trading as “difficult”.

Harveys said dividends can be maintained due to “healthy cash balances”, even after an investment in freehold properties of £1.65m in the year; cash in the bank and in hand totalled £2.4m at the year-end (2011: £3.3m). The firm acquired two pubs last year.

“I don’t discount the possibility that we will be looking for others but there’s nothing specific on the horizon.” He said Harveys is “possibly contemplating the disposal of certain country sites that are proving difficult [in terms of] viability”.

Elder added it was “pubs that require a clear shift towards food” that the firm is “considering the future of”.

“So much of it depends on the success of the individual tenant,” he said. Elder also described progressive beer duty as Harveys’ “single biggest problem”.  It “has enabled hundreds of microbrewers to spring up, and they are all in our marketplace”.

Elder said Harveys, which is based in Lewes, is “extremely supportive” of its tenants. “We’ve held rents fairly static in every respect and we’ve supported tenants through their tenure.”