The City Pub Group is in the black after two years marred by Covid-19 lockdowns.
The £150m pub estate announced profit of £1m, up from a £5m loss the previous year. Revenue for 2021 was £35.4m, a 37% improvement on 2020’s £25.8m.
Chair Clive Watson said: “Following the reversal over the festive season, trading is now beginning to build in momentum and we look forward to an uninterrupted summer’s trading. We are emerging from the pandemic in the strongest financial position we have ever been in and therefore have signalled our intention to recommence dividends in the autumn.”
Its latest pub, the Oyster House in The Mumbles, opens this week and it has a further three development sites in London, southern England and Wales.
Following the disposal of six pubs this year the company has current net debt of around £2m and £35m banking facilities.
The group also said it was increasing its stake in Mosaic, which has 10 pubs. Over the last year it paid £4.1m to raise its holdings from 25% to 36%, but said it planned to acquire all the remaining shares in 2023.
Watson added: “We have a very strong platform from which to grow and much to look forward to, and despite the inflationary headwinds our development sites are coming on stream.”
He added that with “new opportunities arising from the dislocation in the marketplace, our ambition is to have 65-70 quality pubs open by the end of next year”.
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