Marston’s PLC (LSE:MARS), the pub group with more than 1,300 UK sites, said it remains on track to meet full-year market expectations as it heads into the key summer trading period with the World Cup ahead.
The company said all 91 newly reformatted pubs are now open and trading, positioning it well for what it expects to be a strong second half.
Like-for-like sales for the 31 weeks to date are down 1.5%, which the group attributed to a particularly strong comparative period last April.
Marston's is actively evaluating an expanded rollout of around 100 new format sites for financial year 2027, up from the 60 completed so far this year, which was itself ahead of an original target of at least 50.
The new formats are delivering an average return on invested capital of 35% and like-for-like growth of approximately 20%, at a refurbishment cost of around £260,000 per pub.
For the 26 weeks to 28 March, underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation held steady at £85.9 million, matching the prior year despite disruption from the accelerated investment programme.
The underlying EBITDA margin improved to 20.3% from 20.1%, driven by labour productivity gains.
Underlying profit before tax rose 7.9% to £20.5 million, while basic earnings per share increased 9.1% to 2.4 pence.
Revenue dipped 1.1% to £422.7 million, with like-for-like sales for the half down 0.5%, though ahead of the wider market.
Net debt excluding IFRS 16 lease liabilities fell to £857.7 million from £881.1 million, with leverage reducing to 4.7 times from 4.9 times and on track to reach around 4.0 times by year-end.
The group said it remains on course to deliver more than £50 million in recurring free cash flow. Net asset value per share rose 19.6% to £1.28.
Justin Platt, chief executive, said the company was very well positioned for the World Cup summer and expected its pubs, especially the new Grandstand formats, to be in high demand.