REG-Young & Co's Brew. Disposal

Young & Co's BreweryAnnouncement

12/07/2021 07:05

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Disposal

 

Information within this announcement is deemed by Young's to constitute inside
information under the UK Market Abuse Regulation.

Young & Co.'s Brewery, P.L.C.

("Young's" or the "Company")

Disposal of 56 tenancies for £53M

Young’s, the operator of premium, individual and differentiated pubs,
announces the agreement to sell most of its tenanted estate, the Ram Pub
Company (the "Disposal").

Details of the Disposal

Young’s has agreed to sell 56 of the 63 pubs in the Ram Pub Company to Punch
Pubs & Co. for a total consideration of £53M in cash, having generated
EBITDA of £4.7M for the year ended 31 March 2019. Young’s will retain the
remaining seven pubs for the long term.

Background to the Disposal

As part of its strategy to create long-term sustainable shareholder value,
Young’s regularly reviews its capital allocation priorities. Following the
review, the Board decided that the best way to increase value for shareholders
was to withdraw from the tenanted model and focus solely on operating premium,
individual, differentiated and predominantly freehold managed pubs and hotels.

Benefits of the Disposal

The Disposal is consistent with Young’s strategy to target growth through
investment in higher turnover managed pub and hotels.

The following benefits will accrue to Young’s from the Disposal:


 * Net proceeds from the sale will be used to strengthen the Company’s balance
sheet and provide additional capacity for investment in its managed estate

 * Young’s will look to acquire predominantly freehold managed pubs

 * By focussing on its managed house estate, head office costs will reduce.

Completion

Completion of the Disposal is expected to occur 9 August 2021.

Patrick Dardis, Chief executive of Young’s, said:

“Young’s sole focus will now be on operating well-invested and premium
managed pubs and hotels. We have a proven history of making attractive returns
from investing in high-quality pubs and this disposal will provide us with
additional firepower to upgrade our existing pubs and capitalise on attractive
acquisition opportunities that may come to the market.

“During lockdown, we invested a total of £17M in improving the pubs in our
managed estate and the purchase of two new pubs: Enderby House in Greenwich
and Alban’s Well in St Albans.

“We are delighted to be welcoming back our customers and are already seeing
encouraging trading, despite some restrictions remaining. The Board is
confident Young’s will emerge from the pandemic in a stronger position and
is excited about the future of the business.”

-ENDS-

Chris Taylor

Joint Company Secretary

12 July 2021

Tel: 020 8875 7000

For further information, please contact:
 Young & Co.’s Brewery, P.L.C.                                  020 8875 7000         
 
                                                              
                     
 Patrick Dardis, Chief Executive                                                      
 
                                                                                    
 Michael Owen, Chief Financial Officer                                                
 
                                                                                    
                                                                                      
 J.P. Morgan Cazenove (AIM nominated adviser and joint broker)  020 7742 4000         
 
                                                                                    
 James Mitford / Ameya Velhankar                                                      
 
                                                                                    
                                                                                      
 Panmure Gordon (joint broker)                                  020 7886 2500         
 
                                                              
                     
 Erik Anderson                                                                        
 
                                                                                    
                                                                                      
 MHP Communications                                             020 3128 8742 / 8147  
 
                                                              
                     
 Tim Rowntree/Alistair de Kare-Silver/Robert Collett-Creedy                           


 



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Young & Co's Brewery PLC


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