Yates Group posts £2m half-year loss

Yates Group has recorded a pre-tax loss of £4m for the six months to 30 September.

Despite the loss, the company said it had a "firm grasp" on its past problems, had adopted a more robust attitude to trading and was in a better position to begin to restore shareholder value.

Executive chairman Mike Hennessy said the company had made a number of changes in the business, including the sale of 18 underperforming Yates's, Blob Shops and Addison's pubs.

He added that the changes were beginning to have a beneficial effect on the business but had had little influence on the first half-year results.

He attributed the pre-tax loss to the exceptional costs involved in the sale of the pubs, cancellation of the proposed expansion, and redundancies.

Before exceptional items, the group made a pre-tax profit of £4.7m compared with £6m in the same period last year. Group turnover increased by 10.2% to £80m.

Last week Yates sold eight of the 18 pubs put up for sale to Oxford-based pub group Morells, for a rumoured £4m.

by Samantha McClary