Record year for Hall & Woodhouse

October 16, 2007: Hall & Woodhouse has announced another record trading year with profit on ongoing activities, net of financing costs, growing by 10.7% to £8.79 million in 2006/7.

And with a 22% increase in volume, the firm has grown its share in the UK premium bottled ale market to 9.7%, maintaining third position in the sector.

This performance has been marked by recent awards from Tesco (supply chain) and Sainsbury’s (market insight). The company has won the prestigious Tesco Drinks Awards a record four times.

Managing director David Woodhouse said: “These figures are another solid step forward for the company and vindicate our decision to exit the soft drink and contract production business two years ago to focus on brewing great beer and running excellent pubs.

“Over the past five years we have nearly trebled ongoing profits, and our quality of earnings continues to improve as we rationalise our pub estate towards freeholds and the market opportunity presented by the growth in eating out.”

Property development and sales continue to produce one-off profits and cash for re-investment, and plans for a new brewery have been submitted as a part of a redevelopment of the company’s Blandford site — a comprehensive scheme that includes proposals for a modern brewing facility, commercial space and up to 200 residential units, making use of the existing Victorian buildings.

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