Mitchells & Butlers reveals 1,300 job losses as it slips into the red

Pubco Mitchells & Butlers has revealed it has made around 1,300 redundancies over the past two months as it continues to feel the effect of the coronavirus pandemic.

The listed Birmingham-based pubco said it had slumped to an annual loss of £123 million for the year to September 26, 2020, and had shed 1,300 staff since the end of its 2019/20 financial period.

In an update to the stock exchange, it said the reduced levels of activity and closure of a small number of its sites meant it could no longer support these roles and warned of a “challenging and highly uncertain” future.

The group, which owns brands such as All Bar One, Harvester and Toby Carvery, has swung into the red from a pre-tax profit of £177 million in 2018/19.

Revenues also plunged by 34 per cent year on year from £2.23 billion to £1.47 billion.

Listed M&B said the outlook was dependent on the Government’s restrictions to contain coronavirus.

In a statement to the stock exchange, it said: “The future will remain both challenging and highly uncertain with the duration and depth of the trading restrictions imposed on the hospitality sector in response to the covid-19 pandemic being, in the first instance, the primary determinant of our financial performance.

Chief executive Phil Urban added: “Throughout a very uncertain and challenging year our businesses and teams have adapted quickly, creating a safe environment for guests and putting us in a strong position to benefit when consumers are able to eat out again.

“We saw direct evidence of this from a strong trading period in July and August before further restrictions came into force.

“We remain optimistic that we will be able to regain the momentum previously built and continue to achieve sustained market outperformance when the current operating restrictions are eased.”

M&B employs about 44,000 staff in 1,700 pubs across the UK.