Young & co Brewery
Price 1060p
Mkt cap £640m
StockRank: 85
Prior to today's AGM Young & Co released its 13 week trading update. Managed house LFLs are up 8.6%, and total managed house sales, which account for c80% of Group sales and more than that of profits, grew 10,8%. Clearly one swallow doesn't make a summer but a heatwave in June and and a late Easter certainly boosts summer trade, especially in Young's pubs with gardens or down by the river Thames. I would not extrapolate this performance into the rest of the year because as we know the weather is fickle and it hasnt been this hot in June for 40 years. So a good trading update but still much of the year to come.
Longer term Youngs remains well positioned at the premium end of the market with well
Invested pubs, a sensible strategy for growth and a seasoned management team. As a reminder LFL sales in the managed pub division have averaged over 5% pa for the past 5 years. This is not a fashionable concept bar selling cubre libres (here today, gin tomorrow - geddit?!?) rather good quality pubs with some innovation like pop up burger shacks. Total sales have grown at over 8% pa CAGR for the last 5 years and EPS at 13% CAGR. Remains a core holding for me. Valuation is good for a well positioned business with PE 15.5x April 2018, and a dividend yield of 1.9%. StockRank is 85, so nearly in the top decile.
Hello VegPatch,
Good article. I think I've mentioned before that Young & Co's Brewery (LON:YNGN) is a core holding of mine. Certainly not a racy business but one that is very well positioned. Its ownership of sites in great locations is a competitive strength that would be very hard for rivals to match or recreate.
Not too long ago I went onto Companies House and read through all the annual reports way back to the 70s. They make for an interesting read and show how dealing with adverse conditions is the norm, not the exception. But through that the business has just kept on grinding out reasonable results and it really adds up over time.
My Young's shares have been far from my best performers over the last few years, but I'm very happy with the progress of the business itself and am confident that that will be reflected in the share price over time.
Rgds
Phil
