M&B'S PERFECT RECIPE

The company is flexing its marketing and purchasing muscles with promotions such as a £3.50 main meal at its Crown Carveries and £4.99 meals at its Harvester outlets.

That helped lift sales, despite signs of a weakening eating out market, and enabled it shrug off some of the gloom gripping the pubs industry which is seeing closures running at six a day.

Despite the tough economic climate M&B, which owns more than 2,000 pubs including brands such as All Bar One and O’Neill’s, reported sales up 1 per cent in the past 17 weeks.

The main driver of growth was food, but drinks sales also rose as the group outperformed the beer market where sales have dived nearly 10 per cent in the last three months of 2008.

Real ale sales surged by nearly a fifth as M&B enjoyed a record rate of market share gain. Chief executive Tim Clarke said: “I think the industry is going through a difficult time, but well invested pubs with a good value offer and good service standards are holding up well.”

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