As per its maiden set of results as a public company, the strategy at City Pub Group (CPC) seems to be going to plan. Like-for-like sales were 3.8 per cent ahead of last year, compared with a 1 per cent growth rate across the wider industry. Executive chairman Clive Watson said wet-led pubs remain the key focus as the concept encourages visitors to stay longer, rather than order food and leave. They are also less costly to run.
City Pub Group raised £35m at its November 2017 IPO to fund its expansion plans. It’s aiming to run 50 pubs by the end of 2019 and 65 by mid-2021, up from a total of 41 now. Mr Watson said money from the float combined with internal cash generation should be enough to fund these future openings, and allow the company to stay conservatively geared. IPO costs, along with other one-off expenses, largely wiped out pre-tax profits last year, but profits would have more than doubled to £3.2m adjusting for this.
Analysts at Berenberg expect EPS of 7.84p during 2018, compared to 4.86p in 2017.
| CITY PUB GROUP (CPC) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 163p | MARKET VALUE: | £92.1m | |
| TOUCH: | 161-165p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 182p | LOW: 160p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.4% | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 126p | NET CASH: | £6.2m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2014* | 15.3 | -0.76 | na | na |
| 2015* | 20.3 | 0.86 | na | na |
| 2016 | 27.8 | 0.58 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| 2017 | 37.4 | -0.26 | -2.5 | 2.3 |
| % change | +35 | - | - | +50 |
| Ex-div: | 30 May | |||
| Payment: | 30 Jun | |||
| *Pre-IPO figures | ||||
