Young & Co expects a merry Christmas with bookings already described as strong for the festive period with the additional boost of the football World Cup just before.
The London-based group added that recent trading had also been 'robust' with its pubs seeing a bounce back as office workers and tourists return.
Like-for-like sales since the end of September in central London and the City are up by 22.0% and 11.1% respectively against last year in what it said is the first period completely free of Covid restrictions.
Young’s comments are in stark contrast to recent warnings from the industry’s trade bodies, which gloomily predicted up to 35% of the UK’s hospitality outlets might go bust this winter due to the cost-of-living squeeze and soaring costs.
The FTSE 250 group added: “Although we are conscious of the current macroeconomic conditions, we have fixed contracts for both drinks and utilities, and, whilst not immune to the external cost pressures across our supply chain, we are taking steps to mitigate as far as possible.”
Revenues in the half year to 26 September rose by a quarter to £186.5mln, with pre-tax profits 8% ahead at £23.9mln.
The interim dividend was raised by 20% to 10.26p.
“Our strategy of operating premium, individual and well-invested managed pubs is unchanged, and we are confident that it will continue to deliver superior returns,” added Simon Dodd, chief executive.