Marston's LFL sales grow over key Christmas trading period

Pub chain Marston's said on Tuesday that like-for-like sales had surged over the Christmas trading period.

Marston's stated like-for-like sales for the 16 weeks ended 21 January were up 12.9% year-on-year, principally due to the fact that the same period twelve months earlier had been heavily impacted by the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Sales were up 6.8% in the first eight weeks, followed by a 19.2% increase in the following eight weeks, while LFL sales had risen 26% YOY on the five key festive days and were 12.9% higher when compared to 2019/20's pre-pandemic figures.

Total retail sales in Marston's managed and franchised pubs were up 14.0%, with drink sales continuing to outperform food sales.

Marston's added that its electricity costs were now hedged for the entirety of the fiscal year ending 30 September, with no change to earnings guidance.

Chief executive Andrew Andrea said: "Whilst we still have certain cost challenges to navigate in 2023, we are well-positioned to continue to progress our strategy and are encouraged by the level of consumer resilience experienced to date.

"Whilst still early in the New Year, trading momentum continues to build, and our primary focus remains to meet our strategic goals of achieving £1.0bn sales and reducing our debt to below £1.0bn with all the subsequent benefits that both of those milestones will bring to our shareholders."

As of 0915 GMT, Marson's shares were up 7.59% at 43.96p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com