Young's revenue and profits grow amid 'welcome return' to normal trading

Pub chain Young's said on Thursday that both revenue and adjusted profits had grown year-on-year over the six months ended 26 September amid a "welcome return to a normal pub environment".

Young's said revenues had grown 24.7% to £186.5m, while adjusted operating profits were up 7% at £29.0m and adjusted pre-tax profits were 14.7% higher at £25.0m. Adjusted underlying earnings rose 5.4% to £45.0m and basic earnings per share surged 81.8% to 32.66p.

The London-listed group also highlighted that "healthy cash generation" had reduced its year-end net debt by £5.7m to £168.1m, helping it to increase its interim dividend by 20% to 10.26p per share.

Chief executive Simon Dodd said: "I am very pleased with the performance of the business and the hard work of our teams in the first half of the year. This has been the first time in three years we have been able to report on a period without any covid related trading restrictions, with the business returning to normality.

"Recent trading has been robust despite all the economic uncertainty, and we continue to see our pubs in Central London and the City bounce back as workers and tourists return, like-for-like sales since the end of the period were up against last year by 22.0% and 11.1% respectively."

As of 0920 GMT, Young's shares were up 1.16% at 1,050.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com