Pub and brewing company Marston’s claims it has no fear of the end of the beer-tie as it announced its annual results.
The company said it has moved from the traditional tenanted-and-tied model over the past five years to a franchise agreement model.
It announced a loss of £59.2m, against a profit of £67.5m last year, owing, it said, to the costs of selling a large number of pubs – 202 in November 2013 alone – and the repurchase of expensive loans. Non-underlying items amounted to £117.4m.
On an underlying basis group revenue climbed 1% to £787.6m and profit fell by 3% to £83m.
Daily Telegraph Business, 4, 6
