Announcement of Interim results December 2023

Interim results for the 26 weeks to 23 December 2023

Shepherd Neame, Britain's Oldest Brewer and owner and operator of 296 high quality pubs in Kent and the Southeast, today announces results for the 26 weeks ended 23 December 2023.

In a period of robust demand, the Company has performed well achieving strong like-for-like sales growth, record H1¹ revenues and an increase in underlying profits despite continued inflationary pressures across the business.

Consumer demand remained good, record revenue, improved underlying profit

Revenue for the half year grew by +4.3% to a record £89.0m (H1 2023: £85.3m)
Underlying EBITDA² grew by +5.2% to £12.0m (H1 2023: £11.4m)
Underlying operating profit grew by +8.0% to £6.8m (H1 2023: £6.3m)
Underlying profit before tax³ grew by +9.9% to £3.8m (H1 2023: £3.5m)
Statutory profit before tax was £1.1m (H1 2023: £5.5m)
£6.6m invested in core capital expenditure (H1 2023: £4.0m)
Underlying basic earnings per share⁴ were 18.3p (H1 2023: 18.7p). The benefit of the increase in underlying profit has been offset by the higher rate of tax. Basic earnings per share were 4.4p (H1 2023: 28.9p)
Net assets per share⁵ were £11.92 (H1 2023: £12.12)
Interim dividend of 4.2p (H1 2023: 4.0p), an increase of +5.0%

Operational performance

	Performance H1 2024 vs H1 2023
Retail like-for-like sales⁶	+6.2%
Like-for-like tenanted income⁷	+5.1%
Total beer volume⁸	-10.5%
Own beer volume⁹	-16.7%

Operational highlights

Total retail sales up +12.3% to £41.4m (H1 2023: £36.9m), boosted by a strong Christmas

For the adjusted Christmas period, from 1 to 31 December 2023, like-for-like retail sales were up +14.9% vs 2022
Retail like-for-like drink sales up +8.9% vs H1 2023
Retail like-for-like food sales up +3.7% vs H1 2023
Total occupancy was down at 73.4% (H1 2023: 81.6%) but RevPAR held up well at £86 (H1 2023: £90)

Tenanted trade was resilient and continues to perform well

Divisional revenue was £17.7m (H1 2023: £17.4m) and operating profit was £6.6m (H1 2023: £6.9m)

Beer volumes are down as cask ale and bottled ales decline, but strong performance in independent on-trade

Divisional revenue was £29.2m (H1 2023: £30.3m), with an operating profit of £0.2m (H1 2023: loss of £0.4m)
New logistics contract for warehousing and distribution as we invest in service and heartland

Current trading and outlook

	Performance versus 2023¹⁰
9 weeks to 24 February LFL tenanted pub income⁷	+3.3%
12 weeks to 16 March retail LFL sales⁶	+4.9%
12 weeks to 16 March total beer volumes⁸	-11.8%
12 weeks to 16 March own beer volumes⁹	-16.9%

Jonathan Neame, CEO of Shepherd Neame, said:

“Consumer demand has remained robust, with exceptional trade over the Christmas period. It has been a particularly strong period for our London pubs as people continue to return to their offices.

Whilst the inflation outlook is improving overall, we do face new inflationary challenges such as the further rise to the National Living Wage.

We are encouraged by the performance of our recent retail developments and have a good pipeline of schemes to deliver to further improve the premium quality of the estate.
We have a strong balance sheet, a well-balanced, cash generative business and a fantastic team of dedicated talent that give us confidence in our long-term prospects."

20 March 2024

Enquiries

Shepherd Neame, Tel: 01795 532206

Jonathan Neame, Chief Executive
Mark Rider, Chief Financial Officer

Instinctif Partners, Tel: 020 7457 2020

Matthew Smallwood, Tel: 020 7457 2005
Justine Warren, Tel: 020 7457 2010

¹H1 2024 is the first half of the financial period of the 53 weeks to the 29 June 2024. This period equated to the 26 weeks ended 23 December 2023.
²Underlying profit before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, and profit or loss on the sale of fixed assets (excluding property).
³Profit before any profit or loss on the disposal of properties, investment property fair value movements and operating charges which are either material or infrequent in nature and do not relate to the underlying performance.
⁴Underlying profit less attributable taxation divided by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period. The numbers of shares in issue excludes those held by the Company and not allocated to employees under the Share Incentive Plan which are treated as cancelled.
⁵Net assets at the reporting date divided by the number of shares in issue being 14,857,500 50p shares.
⁶Retail like-for-like sales includes revenue from the sale of drink, food and accommodation but excludes machine income. Like-for-like sales performance is calculated against a comparable 26 week period in the prior year for pubs that were in the estate in the same period within both years.
⁷Tenanted income calculated to exclude from both periods those pubs which have not been in the estate throughout the two periods. The principal exclusions are pubs purchased or sold, pubs which have closed, and pubs transferred to or from our retail business. Income is calculated against a comparable 26 week period in the prior year for pubs that were trading in both 26-week periods.
⁸Shepherd Neame branded, licensed, third-party, customer own-label and contract beer and cider sales volumes.
⁹Shepherd Neame branded, licensed, customer own-label and contract beer and cider sales volumes.
¹⁰The periods referred to for financial year 2023 are the comparative month(s) of January, February and March 2023 which are during the financial year 52 weeks to 24 June 2023.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Shepherd Neame is Britain's oldest brewer. Established in 1698 and based in Faversham, Kent it employs around 1,800 people.
The Company operates 296 pubs, of which 219 were tenanted or leased, 71 managed and six were held as investment properties under commercial free of tie leases. 85% of the estate is freehold. The pub estate ranges from inns and hotels to destination dining, great traditional and local community pubs.
The Company brews, markets and distributes its own beers to national and export customers under a range of highly successful brand names including Spitfire, Bishops Finger, Whitstable Bay and Bear Island.
The Company also has a partnership with Boon Rawd Brewery Company for Singha beer, Thailand's original premium beer.

For full details click the PDF below:

Shepherd Neame Interim Report