Upham Group plc (“Upham”), a collection of premium pubs with its own regional brewery, is pleased to announce that recent weeks have shown a very pleasing pickup in activity, following a slow start to 2018 in the context of a well-publicised challenging trading environment.
Highlights
- Overall Q1 2018 sales up 6.8% to £3.3m compared to Q1 2017
- Positive EBITDA of £36k in Q1 2018, compared to loss of £16k in Q1 2017
- Further piece of surplus land at The Winning Post sold for £200k in February
- Very strong sales at The White Hart, Overton, and The Winning Post during week of Royal Wedding
- Further improvements made across the estate, including two new bedrooms at The Winning Post and a new function room and conservatory access at The Navigator
Review
Overall sales for the first quarter of 2018 of £3.3m are 6.8% up on the same period last year, principally due to the inclusion of a full period of trading of the Weighbridge Brewhouse (purchased on 10 February 2017). At a Group EBITDA level, the first quarter of the year has delivered a positive EBITDA of £36k, compared to a loss of £16k in the equivalent period in 2017.
However, partly as a result of adverse and sometimes extreme weather conditions in February and March and partly as a result from the significant trading disruption at a number of sites from development projects undertaken in the seasonal quieter trading period, year to date like for like sales across the whole estate are down 0.8% on the previous year.
We continue to seek improvements to the estate and so far this year two new bedrooms have been added at The Winning Post and bedrooms have been refurbished at The Navigator, The Hawk and The Running Horse. A new function room and conservatory access have been added at The Navigator and additional outside service areas are soon to complete at both The George and The Hawk. At The Mill at Gordleton, a refurbishment of the main trading areas, including the conservatory terrace, is due to complete in the next few weeks.
At the start of February, a further piece of surplus land was also sold at The Winning post for £200k. More recently, a number of Upham’s pubs held special events to mark the Royal Wedding on 19 May, with some excellent results: for the week ended 20 May, The White Hart, Overton, recorded a 46.2% increase in gross sales compared to the same week in prior year, followed by The Winning Post at 41.4%.
Chris Phillips, CEO of Upham, commented: “The sector as a whole has experienced a challenging start to the year, and I am delighted that, despite this, we are able to report that overall sales for the quarter were up from the same period last year. Our principal focus for 2018 is to ensure that we continue to maximise operational efficiencies and sustainable profits growth in both the pub estate and the brewery, while delivering the outstanding beer, food, accommodation and service that our customers have come to expect from us. We enjoyed a brilliant Royal Wedding weekend across our estate and look forward to a successful – and hopefully sunny – summer season.”
ENDS
| TB Cardew (PR adviser) | upham@tbcardew.com/ 020 7930 0777 |
| Alycia MacAskill
Ed Orlebar |
07876 222 703
07738 724 630 |
About Upham Group Plc:
Upham Group plc is a collection of premium pubs with its own craft brewery in the south of England. At present, it operates 16 pubs across the South of England with plans to increase the portfolio. The Group seeks to buy freehold pubs with growth potential in prime trading locations in order to invest in the customer experience, increase the revenue generating space of the buildings, provide comfortable and stylish accommodation, and improve the pubs’ underlying operations. The first pub to open was The Winning Post at Winkfield near Ascot in April 2012.
The new Upham Brewery was opened in May 2013, and it now supplies over 250 stockists, including leading pubs, hotels and local Tesco, Majestic and Co-op stores, with its staple ales, Punter and Tipster, as well as ten seasonal special ales.
The Group has a highly experienced management team led by CEO Chris Phillips, and Deputy CEO and Estates Director David Butcher, who were recruited in 2011 to develop and roll out a pub acquisition strategy. They were joined by Finance Director Robb Harris in October 2014, who also brings with him strong experience of the hospitality sector.
Additional information:
The Estate
| Covers | ||||
| Pub | Location | Opening Date | Bar & Restaurant | Other1 |
| Upham Brewery | Stake Farm, Hampshire | Jan 2012 | – | – |
| The Winning Post | Winkfield, Berkshire | Apr 2012 | 68 | 78 |
| The Thomas Lord | West Meon, Hampshire | Aug 2012 | 96 | 70 |
| The Navigator | Lower Swanwick, Hampshire | Sep 2012 | 95 | 134 |
| The George Inn | Longbridge Deverill, Wiltshire | May 2013 | 80 | 200 |
| The Running Horse | Littleton, Hampshire | Jul 2013 | 75 | 80 |
| The Bunk Inn | Curridge, Berkshire | Oct 2013 | 85 | 112 |
| The White Hart (South Harting) | South Harting, West Sussex | Nov 2013 | 70 | 82 |
| The Wheelwright’s Arms | Havant, Hampshire | May 2014 | 66 | 86 |
| The Peat Spade Inn | Longstock, Hampshire | Sep 2014 | 70 | 65 |
| The Plantation | Canford Cliffs, Dorset | Nov 2014 | 85 | 85 |
| The Mill at Gordleton | Hordle, Hampshire | May 2015 | 88 | 104 |
| The White Hart (Overton) | Overton, Hampshire | Jun 2015 | 102 | 64 |
| The Swan Inn | Chiddingfold, Surrey | Sep 2015 | 84 | 60 |
| The Hawk Inn | Amport, Hampshire | Feb 2016 | 82 | 136 |
| The Station House | Haslemere, Surrey | Nov 2016 | 108 | 86 |
| The Weighbridge Brewhouse | Swindon, Wiltshire | Jan 2017 | 210 | 25 |