Kent brewer Shepherd Neame saw a 40% leap in profits last year as it sold record volumes of beers like Spitfire and Asahi Super Dry and also had record sales from its 354 pubs.
“Across the UK it has been a tale of two industries,” said chief executive Jonathan Neame. “Swathes of community pubs in less well-off areas are struggling to survive as the Government continues to push duty up. But in more affluent areas, where most of our pubs are located, there has been substantial growth in both food and accommodation demand ever since the smoking ban came in. Pubs are now outperforming restaurants as the venue for family meals because they offer value for money.”
Shepherd Neame’s pre-tax profits jumped from £6.5 million to £9.1 million on sales up 9.6% at £133 million. The dividend for the year goes up 3% to 24.5p a share.
In the year the end of June the group acquired seven local pubs and hotels. It has also bought the Royal Wells Hotel in Tunbridge Wells and now has a total of 499 rooms to let.
