Marston’s Posts Steady H1 Profits as New Pub Formats Set to Drive Growth

Marston’s has reported a EBITDA of £85.9 million for the first half of its financial year, similar to the same period in 2025 as disciplined cost control offset the drag from accelerated investment and associated closure periods at pubs undergoing refurbishment.

The managed and tenanted pub operator, which runs more than 1,300 sites across the UK, posted underlying EBITDA margins of 20.3% for the 26 weeks to 28 March 2026, a 20 basis point improvement on the same period last year, continuing a run of margin expansion that delivered 140 basis points of progress across FY2025.

Stripping out the impact of pubs closed for conversion to new formats, the company said underlying EBITDA was £2.0 million ahead of last year, with an adjusted margin of 20.7%.

Underlying operating profit rose to £64.4 million from £63.3 million, while underlying profit before tax grew 7.9% to £20.5 million, compared with £19.0 million in H1 2025.

The headline operational story of the half was the pace of Marston’s pub refurbishment programme. The group completed 60 new format conversions in the period, comfortably ahead of its target of at least 50 for the full year. Combined with formats opened in FY2025, Marston’s now has 91 reformatted pubs trading.

The company says those sites are performing strongly, delivering average returns on invested capital of 35% and like-for-like sales growth of approximately 20% against their pre-refurbishment performance. Refurbishment costs are running at around £260,000 per pub.

The rollout has been accompanied by a broader digital push, with the group’s Order & Pay technology now live across a growing number of sites. Marston’s says the system is delivering average spend uplifts of around 15% as well as improved guest satisfaction scores.

The company’s reputation score — an internal measure of customer experience — edged up to 806 from 800 a year ago.

Group like-for-like sales were down 0.5% for the half, which Marston’s says remained ahead of the wider market. The company acknowledged that the closure periods associated with its conversion programme weighed on the headline figure.

For the 31 weeks to the point of reporting, like-for-like sales are down 1.5%, a figure management attributed in large part to the exceptionally strong trading seen in April 2025, creating a tough comparative.

Looking ahead, chief executive Justin Platt struck an upbeat tone on the summer trading period, pointing to the football World Cup as a significant opportunity — particularly for the group’s new Grandstand-format pubs.

“We are very well positioned for the World Cup summer ahead and expect our pubs, especially our new Grandstand formats, to be in high demand,” Platt said. “Against this backdrop, we are encouraged by the outlook for H2 and remain on track to deliver full-year market expectations.”

All 91 refurbished pubs are now open and trading ahead of the key summer period.

On costs, the company said energy exposure is well managed, with electricity hedged to the end of FY2026 and gas contracts in place through FY2027. The board said it remains confident of meeting full-year market consensus and of continuing to make progress against the targets outlined at its Capital Markets Day in October 2024.

Marston’s is also evaluating an expanded refurbishment programme of approximately 100 sites for FY2027, subject to the continued strong performance of its existing converted estate.