Brunning & Price returned to profit ahead of parent company refinancing, reiterates plans to open up to six new sites a year from 2026 with focus on bedrooms: Brunning & Price, The Restaurant Group (TRG)-owned pub company, returned to profit ahead of its parent company’s refinancing earlier this year. Propel revealed in February that Apollo Global Management-backed TRG had completed a refinancing under a new capital structure, which positioned the business well to further accelerate its growth plans. New accounts published to Companies House show that ahead of the refinancing, the company’s circa 79-strong Brunning & Price division turned a pre-tax loss of £7,445,000 in 2023 into a profit of £4,521,000 in the year to 29 December 2024. The company’s revenue increased from £131,603,000 in 2023 to £139,131,000. Of this, £89,980,000 came from food sales (2023: £85,499,000) and £49,151,000 from drinks sales (2023: £46,104,000). Chief financial officer Mark Chambers said: “The group has maintained a consistently strong performance throughout 2024. The business delivered full-year like-for-like sales growth of 5.1%, representing a continued outperformance versus the market (as measured by the CGA Coffer Business Tracker). Customer sentiment remains very strong, with social media scores (consolidation of Google, Facebook and Tripadvisor scores) averaging 4.63/5 for the last 12 months to December 2024, our highest ever rating. In 2024, we introduced net promoter score, a widely used measure within the industry, in order to get more granular insight into our service scores. In year, the business delivered an average score of 67, which is seen as exceptionally high. We are particularly pleased that Brunning & Price was recognised as the best pub group in the UK by CGA Pub Track for the second year running, which is a credit to the strong leadership and delivery of the teams over many years. The key drivers of this continued market outperformance are: Good customer demographics: On average, around 60% of the total population that live within a 15-minute drive of each site form part of a higher-income demographic, and there are usually at least 25,000 people within these catchments. High-quality property estate in defensible, well-invested locations: Our sites are typically located in rural and suburban locations (c.80% with expansive layouts and limited competition nearby, which has been instrumental in the Group's ability to trade strongly over the years. Over 70% of our pubs have more than 100 outside seats, which is particularly beneficial through the summer trading period. Customer-centric decision-making: Our strategy, product quality, service and model evolution is informed by customer feedback and needs. ‘What would our customers think?’ remains a central question at all decision points.” Earlier this month, when TRG reported its annual accounts, Chambers said the group was planning to deliver up to six new Brunning & Price sites per year from 2026, with a focus on bedrooms as a “growth opportunity”. He reiterated those plans, saying: “The business has consistently outperformed the market and has significant potential to create further value. Alongside the existing model, we believe there is also a growth opportunity ni the provision of bedroom sales beyond what we currently have in the estate, and the intention is to build a pipeline of new openings to include this additional income stream, with an aspiration to deliver three to six new sites per year from 2026.” No dividend was paid (2023: nil).