Young’s managed house revenue up 17%: Young’s has reported that its managed house revenue for the last 13 weeks, against the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, were up 17% and for the last five weeks versus a year ago up 38.5%. The company said that despite the storms, floods and tube strikes, or the unwelcome arrival of the omicron variant which hampered its Christmas trading, its total revenue for the 52 weeks to 28 March 2022 was up by 251.1% to £309m (2021: £88m), with managed house sales ahead of the two-year comparative by 2.9%. Total group adjusted operating profit from continuing operations was £51.4m (2021: adjusted operating loss from continuing operations of £33.2m), with operating profit from continuing operations of £51.7m (2021: operating loss from continuing operations of £34.5m). The company said that total managed house revenue was up by 253.7% to £307.7m (2021: £87m). During the year, it invested £73.7m, including £24.7m in its existing managed estate and £36.8m adding nine new pubs, including the acquisition of six pubs and hotels from the Lucky Onion group in February. In June last year, it completed the sale of 56 tenanted businesses for £53m to Punch. It said that its group strategy is now entirely focused on the development of well invested, premium managed pubs and hotels in the south of England. During the year its net debt has reduced by £74.9m to £173.8m and, with adjusted Ebitda of £82.5m, net debt to Ebitda is conservative at 2.1 times; Including cash balances this leaves the company with £134m of headroom on its committed bank facilities for future investment. The company said that across its tenanted business, which now just comprises three pubs, continuing business revenue was £1m (2021: £700,000) and an adjusted operating profit of £400,000 (2021: £0.0m). Due to the small nature of the continuing business, the company said this will be the final period in which it reports on the tenanted division separately. The company said: “During the period we were able to move on from measures introduced to steer us through the covid-19 pandemic. In May 2021, we began by repaying the £30m borrowed under the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and then didn’t need to extend the £20m bilateral revolving credit facility with NatWest that matured in November. This marked an important step away from temporary finance support measures. The sale of most of the tenanted estate to Punch Pubs & Co for £53m was a defining moment in our strategy to focus on operating predominantly freehold, individual, differentiated and premium managed pubs and pubs with rooms. The sale left us with seven tenanted pubs, three of which we have now sold. One of the remaining pubs, the Grand Junction Arms (Harlesden) now operates as a managed pub following a major investment. This significant strategic move gave us cash to further strengthen our balance sheet and extra capacity both to invest in our existing estate and capitalise on attractive acquisition opportunities that present themselves. £30.4m on our existing business and new head office.” Patrick Dardis, chief executive of Young’s, said: “We have found ourselves navigating challenges at nearly every turn, whether it be storms, floods and tube strikes, or the unwelcome arrival of the Omicron variant which hampered our Christmas trading. I am delighted to announce a strong set of results that marks a return to normalised profitability with unrestricted trading towards the end of the year. After a quiet period on the acquisition front last year, we have made some exciting investments. The most significant of these was the acquisition of six pub and hotel assets from the Lucky Onion group in Cheltenham and the Cotswolds in February 2022. These predominantly freehold premium pubs and hotels perfectly complement our existing businesses in the area. It’s been a great start to the new financial year, for the last 13 weeks revenue was up 17.0% versus pre-pandemic levels of 2019 and up 38.5% for the last five weeks against 2021. The Easter sunshine was a real boost, with some record weeks. We are looking forward to the extended Jubilee weekend where we hope to break more records. Young’s are firmly back in business, with the firepower to deliver further growth. Having announced my intention to step down as chief executive after six years in the role, I am pleased to hand over the reins to my successor, Simon Dodd and the rest of the executive team, at the coming AGM in July. Simon was recruited three years ago with succession planning in mind, his excellent leadership skills, vision and operational experience will be great assets to Young’s.”