Tue 8th Aug 2017 - Peach Pub Company reports turnover hits £25m Peach Pub Company reports turnover hits £25m: Peach Pub Company has reported turnover rose to £25.1m in the year ending 8 January 2017, up from £24.8m the year before (54 weeks), showing adjusted like-for-like growth of 4.8%. The group’s Ebitda during the 52-week period was £2.5m. Peach added one new gastro-pub to the fold in 2016 – the Duke of Wellington in East Horsley, Surrey. Peach’s first boutique hotel, The High Field Town House in Edgbaston, meanwhile, marked its first year of trading with a “robust” performance and high occupancy rates (75%) with reviews “looking good”. “It’s been a positive year for Peach, despite trading challenges in some areas of the business and the tough inflationary situation, and we have come out with another good set of figures,” said co-founder, Hamish Stoddart. “We’re in profit, have delivered growth and are still up for new developments, with our latest one launching in September. This year in the six months to June 2017 we are up 2% like-for-like. In April to June this year, our garden trade has not been what we would have liked; the weather hasn’t helped and we have seen a fall in restaurant covers, but this has been covered by the improvement in bar sales. Trading is interesting in premium pubs. As far as we can tell, we are taking market share in almost all of our pubs. This year we made up two new partners, Sam Collins and Julie Centracchio (finance director). In October, we shall be celebrating Peach’s 15th anniversary and we are continuing to ‘Make Life Peachy’ for our team with a raft of new training and career development opportunities, some of which helped us be recognised in this year’s Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies to Work For. We aim to rise from number 45 in the ranks and the two-star accreditation we achieved this year. And we are looking forward to the challenges and successes 2018 will bring.” Profit before tax and minority interests was £523,108 (2015: £664,131 including 54 weeks). Peach banking facilities consist of £6.8m loan, £1.65m RCF and £0.3m overdraft. Net assets are currently £1,561,728 (2015: £1,448,109). The company added: “We aim for steady future growth based on our existing principles, sharing the rewards of success with our key operators, and retaining sufficient profits to grow and develop our business with the support of our banking and property partners. Our medium-term goal remains Peaches 22 – that means 22 great pubs with shared ownership and 11% operational profit. We will continue to focus on innovation to improve our technological capability that works towards our core values, ‘Making Life Peachy’. Expect two or three more pubs in 2017 and 2018 and only great ones. Recent trading in 2017 has started solidly with positive like for likes. First-quarter like-for-likes were 1.8% ahead of the market. Peaches 22 is now well within reach with the addition of the Duke of Wellington, bringing our portfolio to 18 gastro-pubs.”