Marston's winter of discontent

Marston’s (MARS) chief executive, Ralph Findlay, reckons that February's cold snap knocked £3m off half-year profits. This seems to be the fallback position for any underperformance on the part of the pubcos at the moment, but we think the two percentage point contraction in the underlying operating margin has less to do with Jack Frost than costs linked to tenancy to franchise conversions, along with lower-margin assets brought in with the acquisition of Charles Wells Beer Business (CWBB).