Pub giant enjoys strong festive season

Miller and Carter food (Credit: Mitchells & Butler)

One of the UK’s largest operators of pubs, bars, and restaurants saw sales soar across the festive period, with record sales on Christmas Day.

Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), which operates 14 brands including Harvester, Toby Carvery, All Bar One, and Miller & Carter, saw a like-for-like sales growth of 10.4% over the three-week festive period.

With 50,000 employees across its 1,800 pubs, bars and restaurants, M&B is expecting to face £100m of cost headwinds this year, primarily driven by increased labour costs. Despite this, the group said it remained “confident” that it will “deliver continued profit growth and market outperformance”.

Investment in the estate continues, and in the year to date 40 conversions and remodels have been completed.

Phil Urban, Chief Executive of M&B said: “We are delighted to have delivered another very strong festive trading period, with some excellent performances across our brand portfolio. Growth was particularly strong on festive key dates supported by volume growth, and with record sales on Christmas Day. Cold and stormy weather over recent weeks has subsequently had a material adverse impact on trading but we remain confident in the strength of underlying sales growth.

“Our focus remains on the effective execution of our Ignite programme of initiatives and our successful capital investment programme, driving cost efficiencies and increased sales. We continue to leverage the strength of our diverse portfolio of established brands and enviable estate locations and believe we are well positioned to further grow profitability and market share in the year ahead.”

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