Marston's profits up nearly 5% - graduate jobs

Graduates looking to move into the hospitality industry will be interested to learn that Marston's has seen its profits rise by nearly 5%.

The Wolverhampton-based pub company reported a 4.6% increase in profits to £73.5 million after following its F-Plan, which saw the firm focus on "food, families, females and forty/fifty-somethings".

Marston's, which runs some 2,000 pubs, has signed some 100 new agreements with tenant landlords, aimed at giving them more incentives to grow their business, and is looking at signing up a further 500.

These pubs will eventually come under Marston's management from October 2011, doubling the size of its more profitable managed division.

Since the introduction of the smoking ban, food has become more popular in Marston's pubs, now accounting for 40% of sales.

Its 489 managed pubs sold 24 million meals in the year, a 5% increase on the previous year, with sales of drinks up 1.4%. The strong performance of the division contributed to a 0.9% rise in sales to £650.7 million in the year to October 2.

Its tenanted and leased pubs still struggled, with operating profits down 3.7%, but Marston's said their performance had improved throughout the year.