Mike Tye, Chief Executive Officer of Spirit commented on the Interim Results for the 28 weeks to 2 March as follows:
“It has been a challenging first half of the year as we have traded into the dual headwinds of a tough consumer environment and the worst of the British weather. Despite these pressures, we continue to improve the business and strengthen the foundations for long term sustainable growth.
“We are well placed to perform strongly during our key summer trading period and we remain confident of delivering our full year expectations.
“In our Managed pubs we continue to invest in our people, brands, estate and infrastructure to improve the experience for our guests whilst also operating more efficiently. The Leased estate is stabilising and the focus will remain on improving the quality and innovation of the business.”
Highlights
- On track to deliver full year expectations
- Earnings per share1 up 5%
- Managed pubs continue to outperform the market2
- Leased estate quality improved and performance stabilising
- Interim dividend of 0.68p per share
- Onerous lease provision utilisation reduced by £2.2m3
Group Financial Performance
- Profit before tax1 up 3% to £20.0m (2012 – £19.5m)
- Earnings per share1 up 5% at 2.3p (2012 – 2.2p)
- EBITDA1 up marginally at £70.1m (2012 – £69.8m)
- Nominal value of net debt at £741m: net debt to EBITDA1 ratio of 5.1 times (2012 – 5.3 times)
Statutory Results (including exceptional items)
- EBITDA of £67.4m (2012 – £84.7m)
- Profit before tax of £12.7m (2012: £19.4m)
- Net exceptional pre-tax costs of £7.3m (2012: £0.1m)
- Basic earnings per share of 1.4p (2012: 2.6p)
Managed
- Like for like sales up 1.4%
- EBITDA1 up 8% at £53m; EBITDAR1 margin up 130 basis points
Leased
- Like for like net income down 2.9%
- Average net income per pub up 8% to £98k
- EBITDA1 of £17m (2012 – £21m)
1 Before exceptional items
2 Comparison to the Coffer Peach Business Tracker
3 Impact on EBITDA