The sunny spring weather has brought cheer to Britain’s pubs and restaurants, with trading bouncing back in March.
Like-for-like sales in pubs and restaurants grew nearly four per cent in the month, according to new data released by the Coffer Peach Business Tracker*.
The news brings welcome relief to the sector which has been squeezed by the rising cost of property, tax, employees and raw materials.
The new data also shows a 1.4 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of shoppers last month, which is good news for the embattled UK high street and marks a sharp rise from a six per cent drop in March 2018 when severe weather conditions affected sales.
But, while this is unusually positive news for the hospitality and retail sectors, figures released this week by the British Retail Consortium show that consumer confidence continues to languish, as shopping centres saw a 24th consecutive month decline in footfall, dropping one per cent in March.
As business and consumer confidence continues to waiver amidst a challenging environment, UK SMEs must review their strategies and put in place plans to enable them to adapt quickly to the changing economic and operating conditions.
At Beavis Morgan, we have extensive experience of providing specialist advice and planning to SME businesses. We work with our clients to put processes in place to make it easier to run your business and maintain effective management of your company’s working capital. We also assist with management accounts, enabling better control of your financial situation and awareness of the business in real time, enhancing planning for the peaks and troughs.
We are on hand to assist you to remain profitable and increase your net worth.
Contact Steve Govey or your usual Beavis Morgan Partner for further information about how we can assist you and your business.
* The Coffer Peach Tracker industry sales monitor for the UK pub and restaurant sector collects and analyses monthly performance data from 38 operating groups, and is recognised as the established industry benchmark.