Cold weather hits pub profits

The weather has had a noticeable impact on the profits of pubs this year, potentially opening up some distressed opportunities.

According to the Spirit Pub Company, a firm that owns a number of establishments across the country, sales at the company's managed pubs were down 1.1 per cent in the past two months when compared with the same period last year. Food sales dropped by 0.3 per cent, while drink sales fell 3.4 per cent.

Mike Tye, chief executive of the group, told local paper The Burton Mail that the weather was behind the fall: "Recent trading has been impacted by adverse weather conditions and, with the consumer environment remaining challenging, we are redoubling our efforts to improve the retail offer in all areas of our business to give our guests more compelling reasons to visit our pubs," he said.

He added that the company has been disposing of pubs that it hasn't found to be profitable. A further 12 establishments were sold in the period in question, taking the total sold to 72 in the last 12 months.

The sale of some of the pubs is allowing the company to focus on the areas it deems to be most profitable, but it could also release some assets to the market for small business owners to invest in.