Admiral Taverns, the Proprium-backed business, has reported “strong underlying trading” across its estate of circa 1,500 pubs in the year to 28 May 2023, helped by a “notably strong performance” from its 177-strong Proper Pubs division.
Group financials for the 52-week period ended 28 May 2023 showed a group turnover of £182m (2022: £154.3m) and EBITDA of £55.8m (2022: £48.4m).
Led by CEO Chris Jowsey, Admiral says that over the last 12 months it has made good progress in its strategy to develop and maintain a high-quality estate of successful, individual, wet-led community pubs at the heart of their communities.
Its £55.8m EBITDA reflects the group’s growth across first half of FY23, with second half impacted by the faltering economy, inflationary pressure and the energy crisis.
Chris Jowsey said: “Our focus has been on ensuring investment in robust trading, while successfully integrating the pubs and operations from the Hawthorn acquisition, and assisting licensees navigate the challenging financial environment. Our community based, wet-led pubs continue to demonstrate their resilience and are well situated within their communities to provide affordable hospitality. As we look to the future, we continue to focus on our strategic plans to acquire, develop and maintain a high-quality estate of successful, individual wet-led community pubs at the heart of their communities.”
“Our Proper Pubs division delivered an excellent performance, despite the challenging economic environment, and we see further scope to develop this division in the future, although leased and tenanted will remain the dominant commercial model. We remain optimistic our supportive ethos, and high-quality estate of pubs puts us in a good position to trade through this challenging macroeconomic environment.”
Admiral invested £27.7m in capex over the period and has further investment planned for FY24 to improve the retail offer of its tenanted and managed pubs. It currently operates c.1,500 pubs across the UK.
