Despite the company exhibiting symptoms of the Covid-19 crisis such as dented profits and sounding off job loss warnings, Marston’s Ralph Findlay argued the operator exits 2020 in better shape than it entered.
The Wolverhampton-based operator of approximately 1,400 pubs began the year off the back of a £3m dip in profits in 2019, the sale of 137 pubs to Admiral Taverns and with plans to reduce net debt of around £1.4bn by £200m by 2023 its principal focus.
Though it kicked off 2020 with further disposals – offloading 29 pubs to Hawthorn Leisure in January – a pair of landmark deals amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic have sealed what Findlay told
Pub operator and brewer Marston s has reported it made a loss of almost £400million in the year to October due to the pandemic.
With more than half of its pubs remaining closed even after the end of the November lockdown, Marston s warned of challenging and uncertain winter months ahead as the UK remains under a three-tier system of Covid restrictions.
The owner of Pitcher & Piano, which said around 780 of its 1,368 pubs are still shut, unveiled pre-tax losses of £397.1million in the 12 months to early October, up from £20.1million a year earlier. Uncertain winter months ahead: More than half of Martson s pubs are are still closed
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