JW Lees toasts record revenues

FAMILY-owned brewer and pub operator JW Lees said revenues hit a new record last year.

The Manchester group achieved sales of £62.9m in the year to March, up 6.2%.

But profits slipped 4% with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) down from £7.9m to £7.5m.

JW Lees manages 35 pubs and lets a further 115 to tenants. During the period it bought two new tenanted pubs, The Old Station in Llandudno and The Ship in Haskayne, and opened its second Duttons café bar in Albert Square opposite the Town Hall in Manchester.

It also sold seven “bottom-end” pubs as well as two in France. In May the group said it would invest £67m in a further 65 pubs with the aim of building revenues to £100m. It now has 1,100 employees who work across its breweries, pubs and head office.

Managing director William Lees-Jones said: “It’s been another great year for JW Lees and, although our profits have dipped a little, we are maintaining an average compound annual growth rate of 8.3% in EBITDA over the last five years, as well as reducing our gearing to its lowest level in recent history. 

“It is a great privilege to lead the JW Lees team and I would like to thank colleagues for their outstanding contributions which resulted in 449 people sharing in our first ever company-wide profit-share as well as welcoming our first formal graduate trainee intake in September 2014. We are now actively looking to grow the company to £100m in sales over the next few years and see great opportunities for adding quality pubs to both our managed and tenanted estates.”