Encouraging start for Admiral Taverns under new ownership
PUB operator Admiral Taverns, which was acquired by US buyout group Cerberus for around £200m in January , has made an “encouraging” start to life under its new parent.
Accounts filed for AT Brit Holdings – the holding company of Chester-based Admiral which operates more than 1,000 community pubs nationwide – shows it made a profit of £7.4m on turnover of £36.4m in the 23 weeks to June 1.
No comparable figures were provided, but underlying ebitda per pub was up 7.1% on the same time in 2012.
In a trading review chairman Jonathan Paveley – who like all the senior team was running Admiral under the previous ownership of Lloyds Banking Group – describes Cerebus as a “great partner for our business”, due it its size and readiness to invest for the medium to long-term.
Mr Paveley said that in late June the group had refinanced £90m of debt provided by Cereberus at the time of the acqusition with external banls on a five year basis.
Addressing trading he said: “The UK consumer environment remains challenging and combined with some the most dreadful weather the country has experienced for many years, we are delighted that performance has been in line with expectations.”
He said a process to streamline the estate would continue for the next 12 to 18 months – despite the fragility of the market for second-hand pubs.
Mr Paveley, a former merchant banker who joined Admiral in 2009 after executive stints art Punch Taverns, Matthew Clark and Greene King, said Admiral has made an encouraging start to the current year.
He said: “Trading over the first 13 weeks of the new financial year has been slightly ahead of management expectations, in part assisted by an improvement in the weather over the summer months.”
