Hall & Woodhouse Announces Record Profits
The independent family brewer and pub company, Hall & Woodhouse, has confirmed that Underlying Profit Before Tax increased by a further 16% (2025 – 25%, 2024 – 50%) to £9.3million (2025 – £8.1million) in the year to 31st January 2026.
Total Profit After Tax increased to £8.9million (2025 – £4.1million), principally due, in addition to improved trading, to a reduced taxation charge and accounting for an insurance payment receipt for the fire at the Osborne View, Fareham.
Net Debt increased slightly to £36.9million (2025 – £35.5million), notwithstanding capital expenditure of £19.1million (2025 – £16.5million). With £55 million of banking facilities in place, Hall & Woodhouse has plenty of headroom to continue to invest in its Houses, its Brands, and its Team. A final dividend was paid of 220p per Ordinary Share (2025 – 210p) giving a total for the year of 420p (2025 – 390p).
Anthony Woodhouse, Chairman of Hall & Woodhouse, said: “Our Managed Houses had a good year with growth principally driven by acquisitions and investment schemes across our estate, including at The Barn, Woolacombe, The Dolphin, Beer, The Quay, Poole, and The Seven Stars, Petersfield.
“We also opened our latest new build pub, H&W Crowthorne, which traded comfortably ahead of expectations. Margins and labour productivity benefitted from a broad range of initiatives.
“Our Business Partner model delivered another solid year with profits in line with the prior year. The quality of the estate, the calibre of our Business Partners and the strength of the support that we provide underpin a highly stable, cash generative and valuable business.
“While persistent negative media commentary about our industry has made recruitment of new Business Partners more challenging, the quality of our available pubs and the attractiveness of our offer continue to draw ambitious, high performing entrepreneurs.
“Volumes in the Brewery increased by 4%. Our craft keg ale range, Outland from the Badger Brewery, performed very well in our Houses with the rapid growth in volumes, particularly for Outland Stout, more than outweighing the decline in Badger cask ale. The Premium Bottled Ale market in the off trade continues to be under pressure from falling volumes and tight margins. The Badger range performed solidly in this context.
“An important pillar of our purpose is to ‘enrich our communities’ both internally and externally. For example, our internal leadership and apprentice programmes are having a dramatic impact on performance, increased internal promotions and team retention, we were listed as a Sunday Times Best Places to Work Employer for the third year in a row, and our donations and fundraising for local good causes are now nudging £1million per year.
“As a longstanding family business, we are proud to be a force for good. However, punitive employment taxes, employment rights legislation, unlevel playing fields on VAT versus supermarkets and on business rates versus online businesses and Inheritance Tax changes all act as disincentives and make it harder to behave in this positive way. The recently announced reduction in business rates is a small, but welcome, step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done to unleash the full growth potential of the hospitality industry.
“I would like to praise and thank our MD, Matt Kearsey, and the Team for producing another remarkable performance; they have devised and are executing a compelling strategy. This has put us in an enviably strong position as we approach our 250th birthday in 2027. In relation to the latter, it was an honour to start our 250th year with the visit of Their Majesties The King and The Queen in July 2026 to unveil our ‘Cheers to our first 250 years’ logo.
“Finally, I would like thank Ann Elliot as she steps down shortly from the Board after six years for her contribution to the company. She has been an excellent ‘voice of the guest’ in meetings, given us the benefit of her marketing expertise, and challenged and supported us on our journey to continue to build a truly inclusive culture.”