Christmas day cheer for pubs chain Mitchells & Butlers

Mitchells & Butlers said on Friday that Brits tucked into 225,000 meals on Christmas day at its pubs and restaurants, helping festive sales to jump at the chain behind Toby Carvery and Harvester.

The FTSE 250 firm said that sales on December 25 at sites open for a year or more were 5.4% up on a year before and in the three weeks to January 6 they were up 3.9%.

The rise was welcome after snow in the run up to Christmas slowed growth.

In the seven weeks since late November, sales have risen 1.6% against the same period last year. In the preceding seven weeks the growth rate was 2.3%.

The pubs chain, which is also behind All Bar One and O’Neill’s, saw its shares plunge in November after warning on Brexit uncertainty and admitting it could scrap its next dividend payout on the back of lower profits.

Shares rose 2.4p to 270p earlier.

Peel Hunt analyst Douglas Jack said the location of some of Mitchells & Butlers’ sites away from retail parks “has limited the company’s exposure to the problems created by the restaurant sector’s oversupply”.