The head of Birmingham pub group Mitchells & Butlers said the company was well positioned to recover from the pandemic despite posting a £42 million pre-tax loss.
The Jewellery Quarter-based business, which owns well-known brands such as All Bar One, Harvester, Nicholson's and O'Neill's, saw its pre-tax losses fall dramatically for the year to September 25, 2021.
In its 2019/20 financial period, which included the six months after the first national lockdown in March 2020, M&B recorded a pre-tax loss of £123 million.
Revenue for the period was £1.06 billion, down from £1.47 billion in 2019/20.
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The listed group said it had strengthened its balance sheet through a £351 million equity raise and refinanced debt arrangements and it had unsecured committed financing facilities of £150 million lasting until February 2024.
Chief executive Phil Urban told the stock exchange: "Despite the inevitable challenges faced by our business over the past year, we are now well positioned to regain the momentum previously built as we come out of the pandemic.
"The trading environment remains challenging and cost headwinds continue to put pressure on the sector.
"However, we have strengthened our balance sheet and returned to profitability and cash generation, allowing us to resume our capital plan and Ignite programme which will deliver sales and efficiency improvements to help combat these challenges.
"Demand for our well-loved brands has been demonstrated by an encouraging return to sustained like-for-like sales growth since restrictions have been lifted and we are confident in our ability to continue our recovery as a market leading operator."
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