EI Group report marginal growth amid commercial property sell off

Pub firm EI Group has reported marginal growth to earnings and pre-tax profit in its interim results for the six months ending 31 March 2019.

The firm announced underlying EBITDA stood at £140m, up from £139m year on year. Underlying profit before tax also picked up narrowly, rising from £57m to £59m.

It comes as the firm disposes of 348 properties in its portfolio, with the number of commercial properties dropping from 351 to 85, and another 22 slated for sale. So far the net proceeds for property disposal stands at £332.7m.

Simon Townsend, chief executive officer, said: "Despite an environment of unprecedented political uncertainty and inflationary pressure from increases in the national minimum and living wage, consumers continue to support their local pub.

"This consumer resilience, combined with excellent operational execution and effective capital investment, provides us with the confidence that we can maintain our growth momentum for the year as a whole, despite some challenging comparative trading periods ahead of us in June and July.

"The completion of the disposal of 348 commercial properties in March represented a significant milestone for the group. We have demonstrated our ability to grow value through the transfer of assets to their optimum use and then to unlock that value through monetisation providing evidence of our strategy in action."