Pub chain Fuller’s hopes for bumper summer from World Cup and staycations

The boss of pub and hotel chain Fuller’s has said that the evening kick-off times of World Cup matches will provide a double-hit of business through the peak summer period, as the group gets “garden-ready” for fans before the tournament.

Simon Emeny, the chief executive of Fuller, Smith & Turner, said that there have been strong advance bookings for the World Cup and that it has spruced-up garden areas across its 337 pubs, hotels and inns to cater for a bumper summer.

With the World Cup being co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, kick-off times are poised to be throughout the evening for UK viewers.

England’s group matches, which start with Croatia on 17 June, have kick-off times of 9pm or 10pm BST.

“I think it is going to be a very different World Cup compared to previous events mainly because of the kick-off times,” Emeny said, speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “What we have previously seen is that when you have kick off times at 1pm, 3pm, 5pm it can cannibalise normal summer trading. So the later kick-offs could potentially play very well to pubs. We are anticipating an excellent summer and are hoping England stay in the tournament long enough to really benefit pubs.”

Emeny said that the chain is also experiencing a rise in domestic tourism, with holidaymakers choosing staycations over foreign trips this year.

“This next three-month summer period is our busiest period of the whole year,” he said. “And clearly the World Cup is an important part of that. But it is not the only part. We are seeing a big jump in staycations, growth in domestic tourism. UK customers are electing not to go on foreign holidays and short city breaks due to the extra cost of travelling abroad. We are seeing a lot of domestic tourism elect to go to places like the Cotswolds, the New Forest and make trips into London.”

Emeny’s comments came as the company reported strong results for the year to the end of March.

Fuller’s reported a 5.7% increase in revenues to £398m, and adjusted profit before tax up 28% to £34.6m, which lifted share price by as much as 10% in early trading.

Emeny said the chain, which mostly operates across London and the south-east of England, is popular with higher-income households earning more than £75,000 who have continued to spend despite the rise in the cost of living.

“This group fiercely protects its discretionary spend on going out,” he said. “Delivering a fantastic food, drink and accommodation offer, and exciting reasons to visit, to these premium customers ensures they continue to choose us when spending their leisure pound.”

The company also updated the valuation of its property portfolio to £991m, almost £400m above its current book value.

“Fuller’s has often looked at operating performance and ignored the property portfolio,” said Dan Lane, the UK lead analyst at Robinhood. “A hefty valuation of its property suddenly brings the importance of its bricks and mortar back in – the next chapter for the group may not be about selling more pints or rooms. If the company can convince the market to see it as a high-quality hospitality operator rather than a collection of pubs, the property portfolio might not be the only thing that gets a bump in value.”