The community pub operator reported like-for-like sales during the same period up 2.0%, which said reflected strong trading over the festive period, offset by poor weather conditions in November and January.
During the key festive trading period, 22 December - 4 January inclusive, like-for-like sales were up 11.1%.
Marston’s CEO Justin Platt said: “I am pleased to report a solid first quarter performance for Marston’s, with a particularly strong key festive trading period, achieving record sales on Christmas Day.
“We are excited for the year ahead as we build on this performance through the successful execution of our refocused strategy, driving revenue growth through event driven marketing and the roll out of our differentiated pub formats.
Well placed to deliver
“We remain well placed to deliver FY25 market expectations and the guidance set out at our October 2024 Capital Markets Day.”
FY25 market consensus for underlying profit before tax (PBT) is £68.3m.
Marston’s issued the trading update ahead of its Annual General Meeting scheduled today (21 January).
In early December, Platt talked to The Morning Advertiser in early December about the company’s performance during the previous 12 months.
Marston’s had reported Christmas bookings were ahead of 2023 and Platt explained: “I absolutely love giving guests a great experience and working to build a business that is working towards driving that experience, the progress has been terrific.
“The exit of CMBC was an unleased moment for us. [We are] a growth-focused company with a clear look at our priorities and very much focused on driving growth within the pub sector.”
Lot of analysis
In October, the business unveiled five new pub formats as part of its aim to be a “pure play hospitality business”.
Platt continued: “On a fundamental level, we’ve done an awful lot of analysis of the market to understand consumer needs.
“That allows us to design these five formats [against] those needs, it’s anchored in extensive quantitative data [and] we’ve mapped our estate against those needs.
“We’re in the middle of the test and learn phase we won’t just go and change the formats overnight. The beauty of having a big estate is you can test that in different locations and work out what works.
“For 2025, we’re really going to go for that on our two rooms format, [which is a] pub within a pub.”
