Marston's profit on track for 2025

Marston's has announced that its profit is on track for FY25, also reporting strong progress in achieving the group's strategic goals. 

The UK pub operator, which has more than 1,300 venues nationwide, has today announced its latest trading update for the 41 weeks to 12 July. All comparisons are to the same period in FY24. 

Like-for-like sales for the 15 weeks to 12 July rose 2.9%, in line with expectations, delivering against a strong prior year comparator that included the Euro 2024 Championships. Excluding the impact of England match days in 2024, like-for-like sales were 4% higher. 

Rollout of the group's differentiated pub formats is advancing ahead of schedule and showing encouraging early results, with 26 pubs refurbished and trading under new brand formats, including 21 Two Door and five Grandstand sites. 

A further five Woodies Family Pubs are due to open before the end of the month, putting the group on track to exceed its target of 30 new-format refurbishments ahead of the year-end. 

Business outlook

Directors now expect to see a strong Q4 trading performance, supported by a pipeline of events, the continued rollout of Order & Pay and ongoing revenue management initiatives. 

Capital expenditure is expected to reach around £60m, in line with guidance, following investment in estate development, digital transformation and guest experience, while the group hopes to generate recurring free cash flow of over £50m in the near-to-medium term. 

Justin Platt, CEO of Marston's PLC, comments: "We've made excellent progress against our strategic priorities so far this year, delivering improved margin performance, strong cash generation and the roll-out of our new pub formats. 

"This momentum and our disciplined execution across the business gives us great confidence for the future, and we remain firmly on-track to deliver on full-year market expectations."

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