Daniel Thwaites, the company behind Thwaites beer and hundreds of hospitality venues, has celebrated increased sales despite concerns over a “washout” summer.
The Lancashire business, which has 200 tenanted pubs and hotels across Cumbria, the Midlands, North Wales and Yorkshire, achieved turnover of £115m in the 12 months ending March 31, 2024, up from £108m the year before, according to newly-filed results.
More than half of this was generated by Daniel Thwaites tenanted pubs and inns, which were boosted by above average sales in September and October and a successful Christmas period following wet weather throughout the summer months last year.
Despite strong turnover, the group’s profit before tax was 40 per cent lower than it was the period prior, dipping to £9m from £15m.
In its annual report, the company said: “We continue to recycle capital into new, more attractive tenanted and managed pub opportunities, where there is the potential to invest and add value and so we continue to dispose of pubs that we do not believe have a long-term future with us.
“We have been operating tenanted pubs for a long time, and we have a strong reputation for our well-established approach.
“Our strategy this year was to moderate price increases in the Inns in the face of general pressures on the disposable income of our customers to protect the volume of sales.
“Factors that have been against us for the last few years, including inflation, a difficult employment market and the cost of living crisis are now abating and we are hopeful that the coming year will present a more stable trading environment.”
Daniel Thwaites’ turnover was also up across its 10 hotels and spas, increasing to £52.5m from £51m the previous year.
The business said this was “driven wholly by an increase in occupancy” and that it had “found it difficult to increase the average room rate during the year”.
It added that the division’s turnover growth had been delivered despite “large swings” in the company’s costs, particularly utility costs, embedded inflation and pressure on people’s discretionary spend.
Its operating profit remained unchanged from the year before.