Marston’s slips to big loss after ‘extraordinarily difficult’ year

Wolverhampton-based pubco Marston’s, which recently said it was cutting over 2,000 jobs, has posted a loss of almost £400m for its full year ending October 3.

The company, which recently signed a merger deal with Carlsberg, said that over £300m of the £397.1m reverse it suffered over the last year can be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Revenues also slipped at the firm; from 1.17bn in 2019 to £821m this year.

Ralph Findlay, CEO said: “2020 has been an extraordinarily difficult year for the pub and wider hospitality sector which has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. I would like to thank the entire team at Marston’s for their loyalty, dedication and hard work in such trying circumstances.

“Whilst short-term uncertainty remains, we have taken swift action to future-proof the business to withstand the challenges presented by the pandemic and Marston’s has emerged a significantly stronger business, with a substantially strengthened balance sheet and well placed to rebuild trading momentum when restrictions are eased. The roll out of the vaccine is clearly critical to that, but in the meantime the sector continues to face major challenges and Government support will need to continue in order for many viable businesses to survive.

“Looking forward, Marston’s has entered the current year fit for the future and excited about the next chapter in the Company’s development as a focussed pub and accommodation operator. We look forward to realising the potential of the Group’s brewing JV with Carlsberg and wish the team at CMBC every success. There is clear evidence that consumer demand for our pubs remains strong and our geography, as a predominantly community pub operator with 90% of our well invested, high quality pubs located outside city centres, leaves Marston’s well placed to leverage the market opportunities available to us over the medium to longer term.”