JW Lees hails record results
FAMILY-owned brewer and pub operator JW Lees has hailed a “landmark year” as profits surged 22% to a record £5.6m.
The Middleton-based company, now in the lands of the sixth generation of the family, said sales in the year to the end of March had risen 1.8% to £64m.
In a year of investment and growth, JW Lees acquired three new pubs and sold 12 at the lower-end of its performance scale. It has made a number of key appointments too, including ex-Thwaites executive Tony Spencer, who is leading the growth of its managed pubs estate – a key strategic initiative for future growth.
During the year JW Lees invested £4.9m in the three new pubs, which are: The Parrswood in Didsbury, The Kingfisher in Kirkham, Lancashire and The Hinchliffe in Cragg Vale near Hebden Bridge.
The company has now has an estate of 149 pubs comprising 36 managed houses, 111 tenancies and two hotels.
Managing director William Lees-Jones, said: “2015 has been a landmark year for JW Lees and we believe that our strong values and no-nonsense ‘Be Yourself’ approach are at the heart of our success. We have delivered against our five-year plan that we drew up following the challenges and effects of the ban on smoking in public places.”
He said aggregated sales over the last five years from 2010 to 2015 had been £297m and aggregated pre-tax profits in the same period of £23.1m.
“JW Lees is a long-term family business and we are proud to continue to build a high-quality brewing and pub business. We are attracting top talent to work with us including our new and now expanded graduate trainee programme and in 2015 we created 66 new jobs including a series of high level appointments who will help us with the capacity that we need to deliver future growth,” he added.
Other highlights included the appointment of Roy Ellis, co-founder of Inventive Leisure, and Collette Roche, director of Manchester Airport Group, as non-executive advisers; winning the Family Business United 2015 Northern Family Business of the Year, and employees sharing £440,812 as a result of the company’s strong results.
