CELTIC legend Harry Hood has scored a home win after sales at his family pub company hit a record £8 million.
The 72-year-old former footballer’s Lisini Pub group operates Angels Hotel and the Castle Rooms in Uddingston, Dalziel Park in Motherwell, the Parkville Hotel in Blantyre.
Annual accounts filed at Companies House show turnover at the company hit a record high of £8.2m, a jump of more than £600,000 from the previous year’s figure.
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Its operating profit also jumped by more than £300,000 to £776,917. The firm employs 250 staff at its premises and has an annual wage bill of around £3m.
Pubs and hotels have taken a hit during the economic downturn but writing in the accounts, Hood’s daughter Lisa Wishart, a director of the company, said they were pleased to be bucking the trend.
She said: “We are pleased to report another year of significant progress against our strategy with recorded reported revenue and increased operating profit. Our performance was ahead of the board’s and market expectations.
“On behalf of the board, I would like to extend sincere appreciation to our 250 team members who have contributed to such great results.
“All our units reported growth, with the Dalziel Park Hotel & Golf Club in particular reporting the most solid results.
“Being able to consistently deliver exemplary service to our guests is the true differentiator in our industry. In recent years we have focused on improving our service delivery and culture and we are pleased to see we are benefiting from these initiatives.”
Hood played for Celtic for seven years during the 1960s and 1970s and was capped for Scotland.
He scored a hat-trick in an Old Firm game against Rangers in 1973, a feat was not repeated until Moussa Dembélé achieved it earlier this season
Last year, Hood told of his pride in the business and revealed how he had taken his first steps into the pub game while still playing for Celtic.
He said: “I was on a bus with the rest of the players after a game in Edinburgh and we were going past this pub, the Sherwood Manor in Viewpark and I overheard Jimmy Johnstone saying to Billy McNeil that it had potential. The following Monday, I put an offer in.”
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He added: “I don’t know how many pubs can say they’ve had consistent growth every year for two decades”
The company are currently carrying out a £750,000 extension at Angels Hotel and said they are also planning to add a spa facility to their Dalziel Park complex.
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