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(Alliance News) - Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC on Thursday reported a reduction in profit but said it is set for further revenue growth in the reminder of its current financial year after a 6% improvement in first half.
The pub company's pretax profit for the 26 weeks to September 28 decreased by 27% to GBP11.1 million from GBP15.1 million a year earlier, due to the repayment of a large proportion of bank debt following the disposal of Fuller's beer business.
At the end of April, the Chiswick brewery was sold to Japanese company Asahi Europe Ltd for GBP250 million. Fuller's made a GBP164.5 million gain from the sale, which was not included in pretax profit.
Meanwhile, revenue grew 6% to GBP174.8 million from GBP165.0 million.
The company proposed an interim dividend of 7.80 pence a share, unchanged year-on-year.
"Fuller's is well funded, has a clear vision, a distinctive strategy, a portfolio of extremely high quality assets and an excellent culture, which stands us in good stead to navigate further political and economic turbulence," said Chief Executive Simon Emeny.
"Against this backdrop, and with an excellent and engaged team of people, we are poised to deliver further growth for our shareholders and our team members, and to ensure even more customers can enjoy all that Fuller's has to offer," added Emeny.
Fuller's shares were trading 0.4% higher in London on Thursday at 933.72 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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