Making sure its pubs look up to scratch seems to be a key plank of Young & Co's (YNGA) strategy to attract the premium-minded punter. Outgoing chief executive Stephen Goodyear - who after 13 years at the helm will move into a non-executive role on the board and pass the reins to long-standing colleague Patrick Dardis - said the company typically spends roughly £11m a year driving like-for-like sales and making sure the pubs are in "very good order". This, alongside a strong focus on quality food, helped the group hit a record level of cash generation last year: operating cash flow was up nearly a fifth to £60.4m.
Mr Goodyear said the group's reported profits were knocked by an accounting-based measure linked to the revaluation of its estate - the growth of which was greater in the prior year. Adjusted operating profits, which exclude such factors, rose nearly 10 per cent to £41m.
An increasingly important strand of the business is hotels, where revenues surpassed £10m for the first time thanks to nearly half the 475 bedrooms being upgraded to 'boutique' standard, which means they command a price of nearly £100 per night compared with £63 for a standard room.
Analysts at JPMorgan expect adjusted pre-tax profits of £36m in the year to March 2017, leading to EPS of 58.7p, compared with £35m and 57.2p in FY2016.
| YOUNG & CO'S (YNGA) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 1,220p | MARKET VALUE: | £535m | |
| TOUCH: | 1,201-1,220p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,320p | LOW: 1,062p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.4% | PE RATIO: | 22 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 936p* | NET DEBT: | 29% | |
| Year to 28 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 179 | -7.5 | -11.1 | 13.9 |
| 2013 | 194 | 21.4 | 33.8 | 14.6 |
| 2014 | 211 | 26.6 | 45.8 | 15.5 |
| 2015 | 227 | 36.1 | 55.2 | 16.5 |
| 2016 | 246 | 33.3 | 55.8 | 17.5 |
| % change | +8 | -8 | +1 | +6 |
Ex-div: 9 Jun Payment: 7 Jul *Includes both 'A' and 'B' shares | ||||
