Mitchells and Butlers sales up 3.8%

September 26, 2006: Pub group Mitchells & Butlers has announced an increase of 3.8% in like for like sales in the 22 weeks to September 16.

This excludes the effect of its acquisition of 239 premises from Whitbread in July.

In Scotland like-for-like sales rose just 2.6% as the smoking ban took effect, although food sales were up strongly by 11%.

A company spokesperson said: "Against a background of the continuing shift of beer sales from the on-trade to the off-trade - exacerbated by the World Cup - and price increases well ahead of inflation across the rest of the on-trade, we have made further significant market share gains.

"This reflects our focus on range, quality and value, aided by our ongoing investment in integrated, glycol cooled dispense systems which are now in over 700 pubs."