Turnover almost tripled at pub and hotel owner Daniel Thwaites during its latest financial year as the historic brewer also surged back into the black.
The Lancashire-headquartered firm, which has an estate of more than 200 freehold properties comprising pubs, inns, hotels and spas as well as its craft brewery, has posted a turnover of £96m for the 12 months to March 31, 2022, up from the £32.2m it posted for the prior year.
The latest turnover figure compares to the £98.1m Daniel Thwaites achieved in the financial year before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
READ MORE: Daniel Thwaites surges back to half-year profit as turnover jumps by more than 120%
The company also achieved a pre-tax profit of £12.7m compared to a loss of £12.4m in the previous 12 months.
The firm's net debt also reduced from £78.8m to £61.6m while its operating profit totalled £13.3m after making a loss of £9.4m.
Chairman Richard Bailey said: "After another challenging year Daniel Thwaites has emerged from the Covid-19pandemic in a strong financial position.
"Our priority for the past two years has been to take decisive action to control our cost base and debt levels to protect the business for a time when we could put restrictions and a loss of liberty behind us.
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"The company and our teams have risen to this task in the most impressive fashion and I am immensely proud of the way in which they have responded.
"Our decision to reinstate quality cues within our properties at the earliest opportunity after government restrictions were removed has been vindicated by strong trading, profitability being restored and the business generating significant cashflows.
"This has allowed us to initiate investments for the future, start to make acquisitions and confidently set ourselves back on a path for growth which the pandemic temporarily disrupted."
During the year the company sold 15 pubs and its old brewery site in Blackburn for £7.5m.
On the company's outlook, the chairman added: "It is possible that the interruption of Covid may have been contained within the past two sets of financial results, certainly we all hope that is the case.
"From 1 April 2022 government financial support was largely withdrawn and the business is now trading with a new set of challenges.
"Our new headwinds are of a different nature, largely outside our control, which we are working our way through.
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"Staffing our properties, particularly our kitchens continues to be a major issue and everywhere you turn inflation of our everyday goods is rampant, a dynamic that has not been present for many years.
"Supply chain issues are continuing to cause major problems with on-going out-of-stock products and shortages.
"Investment schemes are experiencing long lead times and cost increases, both of underlying goods and from the exchange rate impact of a weak pound. Together these are threatening to undermine the feasibility of some projects that for the time being are expensive to deliver and so hamper our ability to invest.
"As we grapple with these issues the country now, more than ever, needs its businesses to be trading freely and investing to help to pay off our national debt.
"The government is in a position to help businesses firstly by seeing through its promised reform of business rates and secondly by opening up the labour market by relaxing measures to allow some foreign workers to come into the country in a controlled manner through short term employment licenses.
"We continue to lobby the government strongly in both areas as well as other tax reforms to lessen the burden on pubs.
"None of these issues are ours alone, we are only able to manage our own destiny and are confident in our ability to do so.
"To that end we continue to improve the quality of our estate and our offering and our recent trading over Easter has been promising.
"Our properties are well invested and attractive, ready to make the most of the coming summer season.
"Our customers are becoming more adventurous and people’s new socialising habits are becoming clearer.
"Like us, our customers are ready to put the pandemic behind them, meet their friends and family and rediscover that time spent with others, and the enjoyment of our pubs, inns and hotels makes life a little brighter."