Outgoing Dardis toasts strong Young’s results

Revenues were up 251% on the prior year, which has heavily impacted by lockdowns.

Though it did not provide the comparison in the results, in the year to April 2019, Young’s revenues were £303.7m and in the year to April 2020 they were £311.6m.

Despite battling restrictions and Omicron over Christmas in FY2022, managed house sales were up 2.9% on a two-year (2020) comparative.

During the year, the company invested £73.7m, including £24.7m in its existing managed estate.

Focused on development 

It also spent £36.8m adding nine new pubs, including the acquisition of six pubs and hotels from the Lucky Onion group in February.

In June, Young’s completed the sale of 56-strong Ram tenanted businesses to Punch for £53m.

The group’s strategy is now entirely focused on the development of premium managed pubs and hotels in the south of England.

Sales since the period end have performed “extremely well” with managed house revenue for the last 13 weeks, against the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, up 17.0% and for the last five weeks versus a year ago up 38.5%.

Net debt has reduced by £74.9m to £173.8m, with £134m of headroom on committed bank facilities for future investment.

Young’s recommended the reintroduction of a final dividend of 10.26 pence, resulting in a total dividend for the year of 18.81 pence.

Huge privilege 

Patrick Dardis will step down as chief executive at the coming AGM in July after six years in the role.

He will hand over to successor, Simon Dodd, who was recruited three years ago with succession planning in mind.

Dardis said Dodd’s “excellent leadership skills, vision and operational experience will be great assets to Young’s”

The outgoing chief executive of Young’s, said it had been a “huge privilege” to lead the group for the past six years, culminating in a year when Young’s celebrated its 190th birthday.

“We have found ourselves navigating challenges at nearly every turn, whether it be storms, floods and tube strikes, or the unwelcome arrival of the Omicron variant which hampered our Christmas trading. I am delighted to announce a strong set of results that marks a return to normalised profitability with unrestricted trading towards the end of the year.

“It’s been a great start to the new financial year, for the last 13 weeks revenue was up 17.0% versus pre-pandemic levels of 2019 and up 38.5% for the last 5 weeks against 2021. The Easter sunshine was a real boost, with some record weeks. We are looking forward to the extended Jubilee weekend where we hope to break more records. Young’s are firmly back in business, with the firepower to deliver further growth.”