ANNOUNCEMENT OF PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 28 JUNE 2008

Shepherd Neame, the Kent-based brewer and pub operator, today announces results for the 52 weeks ended 28 June 2008.

Highlights include:

• Turnover £101.7m (2007: £100.0m), up 1.7%
• Operating profit before exceptionals £12.6m (2007: £13.9m), down 9.3%
• Final Dividend per £1 share 17.9p (2007: 17.2p), up 4.1% and total dividend per £1 share 22.5p (2007: 21.5p), up 4.7%
• EBITDA pre exceptional items £18.1m (2007: £19.3m), down 5.9%
• Profit before tax and exceptionals £9.1m (2007: £10.5m)
• Earnings per share 49.3p (2007: 73.4p)
• Managed house annual like-for-like sales down 1.7% (2007: up 4.3%)
  • strong performance from London pubs, with annual like-for-like sales up 5.1%
  • managed house like-for-like sales for the 9 weeks to 30 August up 1.2%
• Tenanted pub annual like-for-like contribution down 2.2% (2007: up 6.2%)
• Excellent performance from Asahi Super Dry – volumes up 11.2%
• Voted The Publican Regional Brewer of the Year

Miles Templeman, Chairman, commented:

“This has been a very challenging year for our industry.  There has been a sharp downturn in economic activity and consumer confidence in the UK, particularly in the final quarter of our financial year.

Margins have been squeezed by significant increases in our input costs, such as malt, glass, utilities and food.  Our performance has nonetheless been resilient and compares well against a record result in 2007.

The immediate outlook remains difficult to predict.  However, revenue at the start of the year is in line with expectations, with a particularly strong performance from our Take Home team and robust sales in managed houses. 

 In the longer term we remain very positive about the Company’s prospects.”

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