British pub chain Young & Co’s Brewery PLC (LON:YNGA) has upped its interim dividend for the 20th consecutive year after profits soared in a solid six months of trading.
Young’s reported a profit before tax of £22.4mln for the 26 weeks to September, an increase of more than 11% compared to the same period last year.
Revenues also grew to £136mln compared to the £126.3mln last year.
As a result of the strong performance, the brewery will raise its interim dividend by 6% to 8.88p.
“I am very pleased with this set of results,” said chief executive Patrick Dardis.
“We have delivered sector-leading like-for-like growth of over 5% for the fifth summer in a row, as well as maintaining our operating margin.”
As Dardis mentioned, Young’s managed estate – which comprises around 131 Young’s pubs and 40 Geronimo pubs – posted like-for-like revenue growth of 5.4%.
Its tenanted division – Ram Pub Company – saw like-for-like revenues increase by 3.8%.
Young & Co has brought out a couple of new ideas in recent months to try and keep up-to-date with constantly shifting trading conditions.
It has rolled out its BurgerShack concept to 21 pubs now, and has also just launched its ‘Young’s on Tap’ mobile app.
In the six month period, the company acquired two new freehold properties – one in Bermondsey, London and another in Chipping Norton – and will continue to look for more to add to its estate.
Trading in the past 13 weeks has continued in the same vein, Young added, with sales up 3% on a like-for-like basis.
Shares were up 1% to 1,336p in early deals on Thursday.