Marston's, the prominent pub chain, has delivered a "solid" performance over the festive quarter, boasting record-breaking Christmas Day sales and signalling a positive trend for the hospitality industry.
Marston's reported a 3% rise in total retail sales for the 16-week period leading up to 18 January, attributing this growth to an increase in both food and beverage revenues, as reported by .
During the same time frame, like-for-like sales were up by 2%, which Marston's attributes to "strong trading over the festive period offset by poor weather conditions in November and January".
Operating 1,550 pubs throughout England, Scotland, and Wales, and employing approximately 11,000 staff members, Marston's shifted from brewing to focusing solely on hospitality last October, a move that followed shifts made by other chains such as Shepherd Neame towards on-trade sales in pubs from off-trade sales channels such as supermarkets.
Whilst Marston’s outperformed the general market over Christmas, its growth didn’t keep pace with some rivals, such as Young's which reported a 10.5% increase for the 13 weeks to 13 January. The broader pub sector witnessed a modest 0.7% year-on-year increase in sales leading up to the festive season, as reported by CGA by NIQ in collaboration with RSM º£½ÇÊÓƵ.
Justin Platt, Chief Executive of Marston’s, expressed his satisfaction with the company's performance, stating, "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 [£68.3m profit before tax] and the guidance set out at our October 2024 Capital Markets Day."
