MARSTON’S has declared plans to invest up to £12 million in new outlets in Scotland a year as it revealed it has seen no effect on trade from the reduction in the legal drink drive last December.

The Midlands-based brewer and pub company, which owns 1,600 pubs across the UK, outlined its commitment to growing its new-build estate in Scotland after reporting a 10 per cent rise in profits.

Marston’s, led by Scots-born chief executive Ralph Findlay, booked underlying pre-tax profits of £91.5 million for the 52 weeks ended October 3, on revenue up seven per cent to £845.5m.

That came as the company brought 25 new-build outlets on stream, including outlets in Livingston, Ravenscraig, Stirling and Balloch.

Asked to comment on the factors behind the profits rise, Mr Findlay highlighted Marston’s new-build strategy, which has seen it invest £35m to develop 11 pubs in Scotland in the last three years.

He noted that the company has lifted its profit per pub by 40 per cent in the last three years, and 15 per cent last year, and pointed to the disposal of around 600 outlets in the last four to five years.

That means Martson’s has now largely completed a three-year plan to raise the overall quality of its estate.

Mr Findlay hailed the success of the Marston’s franchise model, under which 550 of its pubs are now operated by self-employed franchisees.

And Mr Findlay, whose company brews the Hobgoblin ale brand, added: “The beer market in the UK has been pretty strong in terms of our kind of beer – local, regional and craft beers have really been in demand and we have benefited a lot from that.”

Mr Findlay revealed that two of the three lodges Martson’s brought on stream last year were in Scotland, in Dunbar and Balloch. Plans are also in place to build a lodge, which typically have 40 bedrooms and charge £69.95 per night for bed, breakfast and free wi-fi, in Stirling.

While the reduction in the legal drink drive limit has hit trade at many pubs in Scotland, Mr Findlay said the focus of its estate means it has not seen an ill-effect from the change.

“We need to be very clear about this,” he said. “We have not seen an impact from the change in the limits on drink-driving.

“I think that the reason for that is that these pub restaurants really focus as much as anything around the food offer, and I would say that 90 per cent of the customer visits are driven by people coming out to eat. I think that has made a huge difference to the impact of that change on us.

“What it has also in a way forced us to do is to be more inventive when it comes to our range of non-alcoholic drinks, to make those more interesting and exciting to customers.”

Marstson’s confirmed it intends to add a further 20 new-build pubs to its estate this year, with Mr Findlay noting that he expects around four in Scotland each year going forward. This will amount to invest in the region of £10m to £12m north of the Border each year.

“We like sites in prominent road-side positions near retail parks, near anytime of more than about 15,000 people, where when we invest we can go in and be regarded as the best pub for miles around,” Mr Findlay said.

“That’s basically what our strategy is focused on and I think that opens a lot of sites. I see the Scottish market as one that offers us significant potential as our customers’ tastes evolve.”

Marston’s declared a final dividend of 4.5p per share, up 4.7 per cent on last year.

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