Manchester-based JW Lees, which comprises a brewery, 49 managed pubs and 87 Partner Pubs, plus hotels and a wine merchant, has seen revenue increase by 9% to £95.8m, up £8.3m from FY23, and pre-tax profit up 104% to £7.1m, in the year ended 31 March 2024.
In the previous year to March 2023, pre-tax profit was down by 56% from £8.1m to £3.5m, with JW Lees citing a number of reasons for this, including the cost of energy, reduced government support and increased levels of investment in the business.
JW Lees operates freehold pubs, hotels and inns, under both direct company management and in partnership with its JW Lees Pub Partners. This year, for the first time, JW Lees introduced a new Retail Agreement, whereby a Retail Operator runs a pub with direct responsibility for the operation of the site for a percentage of the sales. This has now being extended into two more trial sites, and the group will review this operating format in the current year with a view to extending it to more pubs
“JW Lees was finally starting to feel like we were back to some form of business as usual after a roller-coaster four years with lockdowns, huge volatility in energy contracts and the cost-of-living crisis, and then the chancellor announced her ‘Halloween Budget’ which will be a nightmare for all UK family companies,” says William Lees-Jones, managing director of JW Lees.
“We are 100% behind Family Business UK in campaigning for changes to the proposed changes to Business Property Relief (BPR) which, if followed through to legislation, will make UK companies uncompetitive both domestically and in export markets.”
“For almost 50 years since it was introduced by Jim Callaghan in 1976 BPR has given JW Lees the confidence and certainty to invest our profits back into the business, employ and develop more people, and reinvest in the communities that we trade in. Family business is all about stewardship and continuity and last April my son Louis joined the business to continue the family legacy and take it into the seventh generation of our founder John Lees who started the business in 1828.”
“BPR has allowed us to compete and grow our business which trades in a famously competitive sector with publicly listed and private equity owned competitors. JW Lees will do everything that we can to remain a family business and we’re proud to have created over 1,000 new jobs in the last 30 years.”
