Marston’s pre-tax loss widens due to COVID-19 restrictions in fiscal 2020

Marston’s plc (LON: MARS) said on Thursday that its pre-tax loss significantly widened in fiscal 2020 attributed primarily to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that has so far infected more than 1.7 million people in the United Kingdom and caused over 62 thousand deaths.

The brewer also said that its beer company posted a massive 23% increase in volumes in the recent year. In a report published in October, Marston’s had registered a 30% decline in annual sales due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Marston’s tanked roughly 3% in premarket trading on Thursday but regained almost the entire intraday loss on market open. On a year-to-date basis, its shares are now roughly 45% down year to date in the stock market despite an approximately 200% recovery since mid-March. Learn more about how do people make money on the stock market.

Marston’s reports £515.5 million of revenue in fiscal 2020

The pub chain said that its pre-tax loss in the financial year that concluded on 3^rd October came in at £388.7 million. In comparison, it had reported a sharply lower £44.7 million of pre-tax loss last year.

In terms of revenue, the Wolverhampton-based company recorded £515.5 million versus the year-ago figure of £784.2 million. In the fiscal fourth quarter, Marston’s said that its comparable sales stood at 90% of last year. In separate news from the United Kingdom, FirstGroup said on Thursday that its loss contracted in the first six months of the ongoing financial year.

The British company warned that performance was likely to take a hit in the upcoming months due to the new COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the government in November. 780 of its countrywide pubs, Marston’s added, were still closed for the public.

Marston’s to offload £10 million of non-core assets per year

The brewer expressed plans of offloading roughly £10 million of non-core assets per year and slash spending to the range of £40 million to £45 million per year in a bid to minimise its debt. Marston’s said:

“Our dividend policy moving forwards will be based on cash cover, rather than on historical earnings cover, and it is likely that any dividends paid should be covered by underlying cash flow after principal repayments of securitised bonds.”

Marston’s performed largely upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual gain of a little under 40%. At the time of writing, it is valued at £435.58 million.