Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) has posted its half year results covering the 28 weeks ended 13 April 2019, which shows like-for-like sales growth of 4.1% in the first half.
The company reported adjusted operating profit growth stood at £10m to £151m (H1 2018 £141m).
Total revenue was £1,186m (H1 2018 £1,130m), operating profit stood at £140m (H1 2018 £137m), and profit before tax was £75m (H1 2018 £69m).
The group stated that efficiencies resulted in increased operating margin of 12.7% (H1 2018 12.5%).
Sales focused initiatives across the period drove improved performance across the portfolio.
Phil Urban, Chief Executive, commented, 'This is a strong set of results, demonstrating that we continue to build momentum in the business, delivering sales growth, sustained market outperformanceb and a return to operating profit growth all while reducing leverage to below four times.
'This strong performance comes from the progress we continue to make in our three priority areas: building a more balanced business; instilling a more commercial culture; and driving an innovation agenda.
'Success in this highly competitive market is dependent on a continuous stream of improvements, and that is what we are delivering with many small advances at site level driving significant benefits in aggregate. We will maintain our focus on these initiatives which we believe are transforming the business.'