Adnams reports turnover boost in first six months: Suffolk brewer and pub operator Adnams has reported turnover up 6% to £33,165,000 in the six month to 30 June, with an operating loss of £544,000 after exceptional costs. Chairman Jonathan Adnams said: “Our investment in the Adnams business will reach its highest ever level in 2017, a year in which we are once again seeing very strong growth in our beer and spirits volumes. As we indicated in our 2016 accounts and at our AGM, our profits have been reduced as a result of the investment that we are making in transforming the Swan Hotel in Southwold. We are writing-off £721,000 of costs as part of the Swan redevelopment, in particular the costs of removing asbestos. Operating profit before this write-off was £177,000, with an operating loss of £544,000 after these costs, compared to an operating profit £624,000 in 2016. The Swan has been closed since the start of the year and we envisage it reopening in the early Autumn. The impact of this closure on our first half profits, separate from the capital cost mentioned above, was about £550,000. We remarked in our 2016 full year results that the fall in the Sterling exchange rate following last June’s referendum had a major impact on import costs for wine and hops, and this continued in the first half of 2017. Adnams turnover increased by 6% in this half year with Adnams beers again enjoying very good growth. Sales to shops and supermarkets were particularly strong and total beer volumes were up by 9% compared to 2016. Adnams spirits enjoyed a very substantial uplift in turnover with volumes 92% higher than in 2016. Income from asset sales was £526,000 with the most notable disposal being the sale of the King’s Head in Southwold which had been on the market for three years. In 2016 we had exceptionally high asset disposal income as a result of selling the UK distribution rights for Lagunitas beer. We are retaining our policy for the company’s interim dividend, which is that we pay 35% of the total dividend paid in the previous year. As we flagged in our 2016 accounts this means that we will increase the dividend on our “B” shares by 2p and on our “A” shares by 0.5p to 78p per share and 19.5p per share respectively, a 2.6% increase.” Of the company’s pubs business, he added: “The Swan closed its doors at the start of 2017 in order to undergo a complete refurbishment. It will reopen in the Autumn transformed into a destination hotel that will be the gateway to the Adnams brand and its products. We are confident that the refurbishment will bring many more people to the Swan and to Southwold and we will offer a premium hotel experience and a top quality restaurant. Adnams has been steadily growing its managed business over the last few years. We have managed the Crown in Southwold for many years and we have since added the White Horse at Blakeney, the Ship at Levington and the Plough at Wangford. At the start of 2017 we made two important additions when the Bell at Walberswick and the Harbour Inn, Southwold, moved from our tenanted to our managed estate. The former tenant of these properties has joined Adnams to run our managed division. Most of our managed estate traded well in the first half of the year, though the challenges in recruiting staff, especially chefs, on the busy North Norfolk coast, made conditions difficult for the White Horse, Blakeney. Overall profit was ahead of 2016.The leased and tenanted part of our business has decreased in size in recent years, producing some inevitable reduction in its profits, but on a like-for-like basis results are comparable to last year. Towards the end of the first half, we sold The King’s Head, Southwold which had been on the market for a long time as we have tried hard to ensure that it is sympathetically developed. We are hopeful that this will now be the case. Also in the first half of this year we sold the Horse and Groom at Wrentham.”

Cineworld Group reports First Half sales boost: Cineworld Group has reported sales up 17.8% to £420.2m in the six months ended 30 June. Profit before tax rose 57.5% to £48.2m. The company saw admissions growth of 10.0% to 50.7m and the acquisition of the 16 screen Empire Newcastle site completed. Two new sites were opened, Ely in the UK (six screens) and Zichron in Israel (12 screens) taking the group to 2,136 screens at 30 June 2017. Eleven further site openings planned for the second half of 2017. Mooky Greidinger, chief executive of Cineworld Group, said: “We are very pleased to report our results for the first half of 2017 – showing strong growth in admissions, revenues, Ebitda and profit after tax. I believe that the six months results clearly reflect our strategy and a good quality of film slate. Our strategy is based on our strong belief in the cinema experience, emphasizing our efforts on creating our cinemas in a way that will give our customers “the best way to watch a movie”. We have continued opening new sites as well as refurbishing our top cinemas around the estate and taking great consideration to create better sightlines, bigger screens, better sound and great comfort around the halls in the public areas. These cinemas are being embraced by our customers and give a clear message that we believe in the theatrical experience and expect our customers to come to the cinemas again and again. This strategy combined with great blockbusters such as “Beauty and the Beast”, “Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2”, “The Fate of the Furious” and more were the key reasons for this six months success. During the period, we acquired the Empire in Newcastle (16 screens), opened new sites in Ely in the UK and Zichron in Israel with 11 more sites to come before the end of the year. We continue to enlarge our offer by implementing more IMAX, more 4DX and more VIP in order to give our customers the choice of not only which movie they want to watch, but also the choice of how they want to watch it. We have achieved constant currency revenue growth of 12.4% and Ebitda growth of 12.9%. The board is pleased to declare an increased interim dividend of 6.0p (2016: 5.2p).The film release programme for the second half of the year includes a number of strong titles. The biggest titles in the summer months so far have been “Dunkirk”, “Despicable Me 3” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming”. Significant releases still to come in the remainder of 2017 include “Justice League”, “Paddington 2”, “Thor: Ragnarok”, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” and “Star Wars: Episode VIII”. Based on the film slate in the second half and our first half results, we remain confident of delivering a performance for the year as a whole in line with current market expectations.”