O’Neill’s and All Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers offset better-than-expected sales figures today by warning of a gloomy outlook in 2010.
The company ended its current financial year in strong fashion with like-for-like sales growth of 2.6 per cent in the past 10 weeks, including 5.8 per cent in food sales.
As a result of summer trading it expects underlying profits for the year to September 26th to be slightly ahead of market expectations.
However, Mitchells said the prospect of further rises in unemployment in the first half of next year and the impact of January's VAT increase on consumer spending meant the trading outlook remained uncertain.
"These factors highlight the difficult economic environment that the industry faces over the next 12 months," it added.
Mitchells, which owns and operates 2,000 pubs, said its focus on costs and the strength of brands such as Harvester and Ember Inns left it well placed to cope with the tough economic conditions.
It added that recent strong trading was driven by its residential estate, which grew like-for-like sales by 3.8 per cent in the past 10 weeks. Sales in high street outlets were down 0.4 per cent.
PA