“Tinkering”: Thwaites boss calls out Government for lack of hospitality help

The chairman of Daniel Thwaites plc has expressed his disappointment at the lack of "meaningful measures" from the government to alleviate the pressures faced by the hospitality industry.

Richard Bailey used the historic Lancashire brewer and hospitality firm's interim results to detail his frustration.

He said: "We were hopeful that the Prime Minister might be a strong supporter of pubs and the hospitality industry, but there has been virtually no sign of any meaningful measures to alleviate pressures other than tinkering with business rates for a minority of small pubs.

"The hospitality industry needs business friendly policies to address energy costs, the costs of employing young people and the creation of a fair business rates regime. Despite announcing that the “cavalry are coming” this is, thus far, an empty promise."

Results

The results revealed that the World Cup in the US and sunny weather had underpinned steady growth at Daniel Thwaites.

Turnover for the half year was £69.3m, which is a 4 per cent increase compared to turnover last year of £66.7m.

An operating profit of £11.2m for the half year compares to £10.1m last year, with the increase largely due to the profit on disposal of a development site and the combined performance of Langdale Chase Hotel, returns on recent investments in Thwaites' properties and "cautiously" applied price increases.

The firm's pubs were said to have performed well during the period due to the long dry summer and the football World Cup.

However, they say the war in the Middle East has had a negative impact on consumer confidence and beer volumes for the half year were flat year on year.

The company's inns performed strongly due to the benefit of major refurbishments last year. Sales were up four per cent on last year, and with the benefit of a clear focus on cost control, profits increased by six per cent.

Bedroom sales have been strong all year, however Thwaites cautioned it was starting to see signs, "signalled elsewhere in the industry", that people are eating out less, which we believe is a result of a combination of factors, "in part due to the total cost of an eating out occasion and in part to people eating less".

The group's hotels echoed the performance of its inns. Room sales have been up six per cent year on year, and health club memberships have grown by seven per cent.

Again, more discretionary areas of food, spa treatments and meetings have been weaker.

Mr Bailey added: "Whilst we continue to face several headwinds, none of which are unique to us, the company has performed well and has several opportunities to invest for the future, create opportunities and new employment, particularly for young people, and contribute to the growth of the economy.

"We are mindful of the cost of delivering investment projects with elevated energy prices and high inflation. We would like the government to listen to business and pursue policies to address the structural increases in costs of the past decade which have eroded margins and the ability to invest in growth and employment.

"A strong start to the year has tailed off into the weaker months of September and October and we are cautious about the outlook for the rest of the year, hopeful that a period of stability can be re-established after the Budget to help restore business and consumer confidence."