Marston’s: No ‘discernible change’ to pub chain sales amid cost of living crunch yet
Marston’s has said there has been no dramatic change in punter sales at the pub chain since the cost of living crisis.
In a trading update for the 42 weeks to 23 July 2022, the pub chain acknowledged sales were two per cent below 2019 levels.
However, the pub chain put this down to the impact of the government’s reintroduction of work-from-home messaging in December and January.
While consumers have been holding off on big-ticket items such as sofas and cutting back on pricier products, like meat, in the weekly shop, Marston’s said it had seen little impact on consumer spending from historic levels of inflation.
“In spite of external economic headwinds, we have not seen any discernible change to customer footfall to date,” Marston’s chief executive officer Andrew Andrea said.
The pub company would also “remain cautiously optimistic that we will continue to see similar levels of customer demand across the summer where we will benefit from our investments in outside space and staycations.”
The trading update echoed sentiments expressed by Andrea to CityA.M. earlier this year, with the pub boss insisting that after being “locked up for two-three years, we are even more social animals.”
Marston’s CEO had said he was optimistic that, despite increasing cost of living concerns, punters would continue to knock back pints at their local over the coming months. “Old and young alike” were keen to go out, insight showed, Andrea said.
“In times of economic challenge, people look for flight to value” he told CityA.M. Pubs were well placed to take up market share from restaurants as consumers pursue cheaper nights out, the CEO said.
What’s more, punters were still keen to pay for a quality experience. Even with price rises, drinkers were prepared to swallow higher costs if it was “the thing [they] want to do,” Andrea said.
There had “absolutely not” been a shift away from premium lager to more standard products, he added.
Electricity costs were expected to be £2m higher than previously guided for the second half of this financial year, as the conflict in Ukraine continues to push up energy prices.
The pub chain said it would fix the group’s electricity rates for winter 2022, with a six month period to March 2023 covered by an incremental cost impact of c£3.0m in financial year 2023.