Admiral Taverns EBITDA hits £55.8m in H1

Admiral Taverns has reported an EBITDA of £55.8m reflecting robust growth across the first half of FY23 which ended on 28 May.

The group admitted that the second half of the year was impacted by a faltering economy, inflationary pressure and the energy crisis. 

Turnover reached £182m, compared to £154.3m reported for the same period last year. 

The pubs company announced that the strong underlying trading across the estate of 1,500 pubs was ahead of expectations, with strong performance in Proper Pubs,  the Community Wet Led Operator Division of 177 pubs, despite the challenging economic environment. 

During H1, the company invested £27.7m in Capex, with further investment planned for FY24 to improve the retail offer of tenanted and operator managed pubs.

Throughout September 2023 pubs traded ahead of management’s expectations helped by buoyant drink sales and rent income from the tenanted pub estate.

Chris Jowsey, CEO of Admiral, said: “We  are  delighted  to see strong trading during  the  12-month  period, underpinned by our highly supportive strategy to help our licensees serve their communities and grow their business. 

“Our focus has been on  ensuring investment in robust trading, whilst successfully integrating the pubs and  operations from the Hawthorn acquisition, and assisting licensees navigate the challenging financial environment presented by high inflation and a volatile economic outlook for the UK.” 

He added: “As we look to the future, we continue to focus on our strategic plans to acquire, develop and maintain a high-quality estate of successful, individual wet-led community pubs at the heart of their communities. 

“We remain optimistic that our supportive ethos, and high-quality estate of pubs puts us in a good position to trade  through this challenging macroeconomic environment and continue to make progress against our long-term strategy.”