Last week, Propel reported our annual update… A bit more facts and figures than our usual blogs, but nonetheless, we’re very proud of what we’ve achieved!
Peach Pub Company reports 34.2% rise in group Ebitda, turnover hits £24.9m: Peach Pub Company has unveiled a 34.2% rise in group Ebitda to £2,255,801 with turnover up 11% to £24.9m in the 54 weeks to 10 January 2016. This summer saw the opening of its first boutique hotel, The High Field Town House, alongside its successful gastro-pub The High Field, recently named the best gastro-pub in Birmingham. Co-founder Hamish Stoddart said: “Last year was another good one for Peach – that’s 14 years on the trot, not bad for a self-funded startup. Some may say we are growing slowly, but we say steady and that’s definitely best, and definitely the way we want it. 2016 is good, too. We jumped through the National Living Wage with a slightly under target increase in wage percentage, decent retention despite some challenges in certain roles, profit up and turnover like-for-like up 4.5% over average. In August, they were up 7.5%. We put it down to consistency in innovation and great enthusiastic people. It’s not without a reason that we always say ‘Striving to be Peachy’ – that’s what we do. We haven’t closed a new pub deal yet this year and given we have the funding (£3m) and the ambition to do two or three, that’s one of our key challenges. We are considering how we can make this change. It’s certainly tough to find great sustainable gastro-pubs at sensible prices. We feel this gets harder every year and this year particularly some people will get burnt by paying too much or over investing. It’s created by all the smaller and bigger pub companies and casual dining groups having cash available to invest. We have launched our first boutique hotel alongside a gastro-pub. We have pubs with 65 rooms but this is a boutique 12 ‘bedder’, a first for us. Our shared ownership model continues to work for us. Another partner has just left, taking their share of the gain created. John Taylor leaves for Devon with his family and £250,000 in share proceeds, and while we are really sad to see him go, we are also celebrating that this is our fourth successful partner exit. This year we have made up three more partners. It’s fun to be growing an innovative people model with an authentic premium product that we still love eating and drinking and staying in. We want to do more and this year will definitely be the year we do.” The group traded ahead of sales and profit targets and consistently outperformed the market by 2% (2014 – 1%).Profit related remuneration paid to the group and subsidiary directors totalled £258,910 (2014 – £247,879). Directors are salaried at moderate levels and the majority of potential earnings are based on profits and only payable if cash is available. Profit before tax and minority interests was £664,131 (2014 – £303,041), an improvement on the prior year driven by better sales and improved control in the P&L. Following year-end, Peach refinanced the bank facilities with a £6.8m loan, £2.4m revolving credit facility and £300,000 overdraft. The company added: “We aim for steady future growth based on our existing principles, sharing the rewards of success with our key operators, and retaining sufficient profits to grow and develop our business with the support of our banking and property partners. Our medium-term goal remains Peaches 22 – that means 22 great pubs with shared ownership and 11% operational profit. In April 2016, we completed a new bank re-financing deal with NatWest. This raises our total funding available to £9.5m. The funding runs for five years. This puts Peach in a strong position to acquire the new pubs it is looking for.”