Marston’s (MARS) announced it would defer £70m of its planned investment in new-build sites over the next three years and reallocate £20m to £30m of funds into its “organic capital plans”, which are said to be generating significantly higher returns. This is meant to accelerate the company’s current debt reduction timeframe. Management said the earnings impact of this capital reallocation will be “minimal” and is expected to generate an additional £40m to £50m of cash flow over the next three years.
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Meanwhile, like-for-like sales for managed and franchised pubs increased by 0.5 per cent over the 42 weeks to 20 July, despite weaker sales in the past 16 weeks after strong trading last year from the World Cup and an unusually hot summer.
