Maclay Sees Turnover Rise But Still Posts a Loss

Maclay Group Plc has reported a pre-tax loss of £199,819 for the 16-months to February 1, 2014.
The Alloa-based group, filed consolidated accounts with Companies House for a 16-month reporting period, which showed operating profits falling 15% to £604,616 against £718,302 for the 12-month 2012 financial year and a pre-tax loss for the 16-months compared with a pre-tax loss of £737,379 booked for the 2012 year. However turnover rose to £13.52m for the 16-month against £10.43m reported for 2012. Due to a change in the company’s accounting year, the records lodged cover 16 months to 31/01/14 making a year-on-year comparison difficult, especially given the seasonal nature of the business.
Steve Mallon, Managing Director of Maclay Group commented, “During this period we embarked on a major investment programme spending over £1m to refurbish three key venues. This meant extended periods of closure for The Tullie Inn, Balloch, The Southsider in Edinburgh and the West Port Hotel, Linlithgow. As a result, sales at these venues were down in the short term, but since re-opening all three have exceeded our expectation. This year we will continue to invest in some of our other premises as well as in the development of our staff.”
The group notes average profit per pub for the 16-months rose 6.2% against the prior year, with like for like sales up 1.3%.
Maclay Group now operates 26 pubs across Scotland and employs around 540 people. Looking ahead, the directors said the results for the 16-months were “satisfactory” in difficult market conditions, and they “expect growth in the foreseeable future”.
Steve Mallon concludes, “Recent results, related to the start of summer and the Commonwealth Games activity, are very encouraging and we’re optimistic about the forthcoming Edinburgh Festivals and Ryder Cup events.”