‘We’ll keep acquiring’: Young’s sets sights on buying up dozens more London pubs
One of London’s biggest pub chains has said it wants to buy up dozens more pubs after cheering the success of recent takeovers.
Young’s, which currently operates around 280 pubs across the country, has set a medium-term target of expanding its estate to 350 pubs.
The group has been on a major acquisition spree over the past couple of years, snapping up City Pub Group for £162m in 2023 as well as picking up central London chain Cubitt House for £30m earlier this year.
“We’ll keep acquiring. We want to really focus on London if we can, and building our footprint in London because that’s where our huge success stories are,” chief executive Simon Dodds told City PM in an interview.
“The focus for us now will be steady growth and steady acquisition – probably five to eight pubs a year, if there’s anything opportunistic over and above that…we’ll look at it.”
It comes as Young’s upped its dividend by six per cent as it cheered a “record year” after sales rocketed above £500m for the first time.
Young’s ups its dividend
The London-listed pub chain, which recently transferred from Aim to the main London market and hopes to join the FTSE 250 in June, posted a 4.6 per cent rise in turnover to £508.2m for the year to end March, while pre-tax profit surged to £41.1m.
The Wandsworth-based business said stellar Christmas sales and better-than-expected spring weather helped contribute to the rise in turnover. The firm is expecting a further boost in the summer as Brits flock to the boozers during the football World Cup.
“When the sun shone, we capitalised on investments we have made in our beautiful outdoor spaces, driving footfall through innovative partnerships,” said chief executive Simon Dodd.
Young’s rival Mitchells and Butlers struck a slightly less cheery tone, reporting 1.1 per cent sales growth in recent weeks, a marked slowdown on the 3.3 per cent sales growth it saw in the six months to mid-April.
The FTSE 250 company warned its future trading was “uncertain and will depend on a number of factors including consumer spending power and confidence, global political developments, supply chain disruptions and government policy.”
Young’s shares rose 2.5 per cent to 745p in early trade on Thursday, while Mitchells and Butlers sunk 8.8 per cent.