Last checked at 
* M&B posts annual pretax loss of 32 mln stg
* Fuller's H1 loss 22.2 mln STG
* M&B to cut 1,300 jobs, Fuller's says total employees down
20%
(Adds comments from British Beer & Pub Association, updates
shares)
By Yadarisa Shabong
Nov 26 (Reuters) - British pub operators Mitchells & Butlers
and Fuller, Smith & Turner said on Thursday
they had cut around 1,650 jobs and suffered millions in
financial losses as the hospitality industry reels from new
lockdowns.
The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) has warned of
thousands, if not tens of thousands, of job losses if the
government does not give pubs more freedom or grants to help
them cover fixed costs in order to survive winter.
M&B, which owns All Bar One, Harvester and Browns, said it
had cut 1,300 jobs. Smaller rival Fuller's said its total number
of employees had been reduced by 20% following about 350 job
cuts, the sale of its pizza chain The Stable and through natural
attrition.
The companies said they have enough resources to operate in
the foreseeable future, but the downside scenarios cast doubts
about their ability to continue as going concerns.
"We are optimistic about the future in the medium term and
beyond, but there is no doubt that this will be a tough winter,"
Fuller's CEO Simon Emeny said.
Shares in M&B, which have lost around 50% of their value so
far this year, fell 3.8% and Fuller's was down 2.3% at 1156 GMT.
Others in the industry have already reduced their workforce,
with Marston's planning to cut 2,150 jobs and cheap
beer specialist J D Wetherspoon has cut staff at its
head office and airport pubs.
Pubs, restaurants and hotels have been among the hardest hit
by the COVID-19 pandemic, with social distancing measures and
curfews hitting capacity even when establishments have not been
forced to shut altogether by lockdowns.
The current lockdown in England started on Nov. 5 and is set
to end on Dec. 2, but tough restrictions are expected to
continue in many areas, and pubs and restaurants in the toughest
third tier will only be allowed to reopen for
takeaways.
"The government must do more to help our pubs, the
livelihoods they support," BBPA's Chief Executive Emma McClarkin
said on Wednesday. "If not, this really could be the end of the
pub in Britain as we know it."
M&B reported an adjusted pretax loss of 32 million pounds
($43 million) for the year ended Sept. 26 and Fuller's a
first-half loss of 22.2 million pounds.
With 1.56 billion pounds in net debt as of Sept. 26, M&B in
June had agreed to revised financing arrangements with its main
creditors to bolster its available reserves after avoiding a
debt default in April.
M&B employs about 44,000 people, according to its website,
in 1,700 pubs across Britain, while Fuller's employed 4,957
people in over 200 pubs, its latest annual report showed.
($1 = 0.7472 pounds)
(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong and Aakash Jagadeesh Babu in
Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi, Patrick Graham and Emelia
Sithole-Matarise)
