Marston's, the pub giant, has reported that its transition from brewing to 'pure-play hospitality' is progressing faster than anticipated and yielding promising results.
The company announced this morning that like-for-like sales for the 15 weeks to 12 July 2025 increased by 2.9 per cent, meeting expectations, as reported by .
When excluding the impact of last year's Euro 2024 Championships, like-for-like sales were four per cent higher.
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Year-to-date like-for-like sales growth reached two per cent, while the company "continues to build momentum" as it enters the final quarter of its financial year.
Following last year's decision to categorise its pub portfolio into five distinct formats – locals, sports pubs, adult dining, family and two-room – Marston's has refurbished 26 pubs to date.
The strategy, which led Marston's to completely abandon brewing in favour of focusing on pubs, is yielding "encouraging" results, according to the company.
Justin Platt, CEO of Marston's, described the strategy as a "new chapter" for the company, which owns over 1,370 pubs across the 海角视频.
Pubs seek out growth
This shift mirrors similar changes at large pub chains such as Shepherd Neame, which last month announced a pivot from off-trade – sales in places like supermarkets, where alcohol is sold for consumption elsewhere – to on-trade sales in pubs.
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Marston's expressed confidence in delivering full-year profit before tax in line with market expectations, adding that margin expansion initiatives "continue to deliver strong results."
The company which has its headquarters in Wolverhampton, anticipates capital expenditure of £60m, aligned with guidance, following investments in property development and technology improvements.
Platt commented: "We're excited about the momentum we're building throughout the business, with our performance enhanced by a strong pipeline of demand-driving events, continued growth from Order & Pay and our ongoing revenue management initiatives.
"We've made excellent progress against our strategic priorities so far this year, delivering improved margin performance, strong cash generation and the roll-out of our new pub formats.
"This momentum and our disciplined execution across the business gives us great confidence for the future, and we remain firmly on-track to deliver on full-year market expectations."
Marston's targets the generation of recurring free cash flow exceeding £50m in the near-to-medium term to underpin investment and debt reduction.