Marston’s enjoys strong festive season, with record sales

Marston’s saw sales soar across the festive period, with record sales on Christmas Day.
It kicked off its new chapter as a pure-play hospitality business with revenue up, profits soaring, and significant debt reduction in its preliminary results in December.
After disposing of its 40% stake in CMBC in July with proceeds of £202.6m, the pub group is now solely focused on managing its estate of 1,339 pubs across the UK. Marston’s boasts a predominantly freehold estate valued at around £2.1bn.
In the 16-week period to January 18, total sales were up by 3%, driven by growth in both food and drink sales.
During the key festive trading period, the two weeks which include the five key trading days of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, like-for-like sales were up 11.1%.
Justin Platt, CEO of Marston’s commented: “I am pleased to report a solid first quarter performance for Marston’s, with a particularly strong key festive trading period, achieving record sales on Christmas Day.”
“We are excited for the year ahead as we build on this performance through the successful execution of our refocused strategy, driving revenue growth through event driven marketing and the roll out of our differentiated pub formats.
“We remain well placed to deliver FY25 market expectations and the guidance set out at our October 2024 Capital Markets Day.”