Site exit and restructuring dent Seafood Pub Company's profit

A series of one-off costs pushed the Seafood Pub Company into the red in 2018, despite a small uplift in turnover.

The business said one-off expenses such as system improvements, restructuring, and the exit of one non-core site, the Roaming Roosters farm shop and café in Higham near Burnley, were to blame for its £1.2m loss. However, in a strategic report for the company preceding its financial results, founder Joycelyn Neve (pictured) said she did not expect the costs to repeat in future years.

Turnover increased by 2% to £9.2m in 2018, while gross profit was just under £2.5m, down from nearly £3m in 2017. The company's biggest revenue stream was food, accounting for £5.1m of sales during the year (down slightly from £5.4m the year before). Wet sales rose to £3m (up from £2.9m), while room sales also increased to £1.1m (up from £752,000).

Seafood Pub Company, founded by Neve in 2010, runs 10 seafood-led pubs in the North West and last year won the Pub and Bar Award at the Cateys.

Neve comes from a producer/supplier family, her father Chris having co-founded Fleetwood fish firm C&G Neve. Her first site was the Oyster & Otter at Blackburn.