STRICTLY EMBARGOED

UNTIL 7AM THURSDAY 13 JUNE 2024

FULLER, SMITH & TURNER P.L.C.

("Fuller's", the "Company", or the "Group")

A year of excellent progress

Financial and Operational Highlights

All figures above are from continuing operations.

1    Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, profit on disposal of property, plant and equipment, and separately disclosed items.

2    Adjusted profit before tax is the profit before tax excluding separately disclosed items.

3    Per 40p 'A' or 'C' ordinary share. Basic EPS is calculated using earnings attributable to equity shareholders after tax including separately disclosed items. Adjusted EPS excludes separately disclosed items.

4    Net debt excluding lease liabilities comprises cash and short-term deposits, bank overdraft, bank loans, debenture stock and preference shares net of debt issue costs.

Financial and Operational Highlights (cont)

·    Revenue up 7%, against a 53-week year, to £359.1 million (FY2023: £336.6 million), driven by strong performances across the estate

·    Like for like sales up 11.0%, significantly outperforming the industry's CGA RSM Hospitality Business Tracker on average by four percentage points

·    Strong profit conversion, with adjusted profit before tax increased by 61% to £20.5 million (FY2023: £12.7 million)

·    Operating cash flow used to fund estate enhancements and finance shareholder returns in the form of dividends and share buybacks - net debt stable at £133.1 million (FY2023: £132.8 million)

·    Total dividend increased by 21% to 17.75p (FY2023: 14.68p)

·    Bought back three million 'A' shares since September 2022, with a further one million 'A' shares in progress since March 2024. Today we announce our intention to buy up to a further two and a half million 'A' shares - bringing the total number of shares repurchased to 6.5 million shares.

Strategic Highlights

·    An excellent year for the Company, with strong like for like sales and volume growth across all areas of the business:

o  Food like for like sales increased by 14.5%

o  Drink like for like sales increased by 9.8%

o  Accommodation like for like sales increased by 7.8%

·    Invested £27.2 million in our existing estate of iconic properties, including transformational schemes at The Rising Sun in the heart of the New Forest, The Windmill at Portishead, The Butcher's Hook & Cleaver in Smithfield, and The Forester in Ealing

·    Completed the roll out of our Lead Your Way programme to all General Managers - demonstrating our commitment to develop our people

·    Continued proactive management of the estate to enhance shareholder value:

o  Transferred 23 pubs from Managed Pubs and Hotels to Tenanted Inns, generating an incremental £1.0 million profit in a full year

o  Agreed terms on the sale of The Mad Hatter in SE1, which will realise £20 million of value - due July 2024

o  Agreed sale of a portfolio of 37 non-core pubs to Admiral Taverns for £18.3 million, at a £1.6 million premium to the gross asset value of £16.7 million.

Current Trading

·    Good sales momentum continuing, with like for like sales for the 10 weeks to 8 June 2024 up 4.4%

·    Completed or on site at seven investment schemes since the start of new financial year including The Astronomer in Liverpool Street and The Head of the River in Oxford

·    Company in a great position for future growth.

Chief Executive Simon Emeny said:

"It has been a strong year for Fuller's and I am pleased and proud of the progress we have made. All parts of the Company have performed well - with like for like sales in our Managed Pubs and Hotels increasing by 11%, Tenanted Inns operating profit rising 4% and adjusted profit before tax rising 61% to £20.5 million.

"Fuller's has delivered these excellent results in the last financial year, despite the high inflationary environment. As of today, those inflationary pressures - especially in regard to food and energy - have reduced, which gives us additional confidence in the coming year.

"We have continued to build on this strong momentum with like for like sales in the first 10 weeks of the year rising by 4.4%. We have commenced a wide-ranging investment programme, with seven schemes already on site or completed since the start of the new financial year. Complementing this investment in our properties is continued investment in our people. We will be rolling out our leadership development programme to our support centre managers and Head Chefs and continuing to provide development opportunities to team members at all levels across the business.

"As a Company, we are primed for further success and growth. We will continue with our share buyback programme, and we will benefit from the sale of The Mad Hatter in July 2024 for a total consideration of £20 million, and £18.3 million from the sale of 37 non-core pubs to Admiral Taverns.

"With the solid financial foundation of a strong Balance Sheet and a first-class, predominately freehold estate of iconic pubs and hotels, combined with a team that has the ability and capacity to drive the business forward, we are confident and excited by the opportunities the future will bring.

-Ends-

For further information, please contact:

Fuller, Smith & Turner P.L.C.

Simon Emeny, Chief Executive                                                           020 8996 2000

Neil Smith, Finance Director                                                                020 8996 2000

Georgina Wald, Corporate Comms Manager                                020 8996 2198

Instinctif Partners

Justine Warren                                                                                       020 7457 2010

Forthcoming dates in the financial calendar:

AGM: 23 July 2024

Half year results announcement FY 2025: 13 November 2024

Full year results announcement FY 2025: 12 June 2025

Notes to Editors:

Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC is the premium pubs and hotels business that is famous for beautiful and inviting pubs with delicious fresh food, a vibrant and interesting range of drinks, and engaging service from passionate people. Our purpose in life is to create experiences that nourish the soul. Fuller's has 179 managed businesses, with 1,009 boutique bedrooms, and 190 Tenanted Inns. The Fuller's pub estate stretches from Brighton to Birmingham and from Bristol to the Greenwich Peninsula. Our Managed Pubs and Hotels include Cotswold Inns & Hotels - seven stunning hotels in the Cotswolds, and Bel & The Dragon - six exquisite modern English inns with boutique rooms located in the Home Counties. In summary, Fuller's is the home of great pubs, outstanding hospitality and passionate people, where everyone is welcome and leaves that little bit happier than they arrived.

Photography is available from the Fuller's Press Office on 020 8996 2000 or by email at pr@fullers.co.uk.

This statement will be available on the Company's website, www.fullers.co.uk. An accompanying presentation will be available from 12 noon on 13 June 2024.

FULLER, SMITH & TURNER P.L.C.

FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE 52 WEEKS ENDED 30 MARCH 2024

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

It has been an excellent year for your Company - with significant progress and growth in all areas of the business. Of particular note is the rise in like for like sales in our Managed Pubs and Hotels of 11% and a 13% rise in our Tenanted Inns revenue.

Against this backdrop, we have seen total revenues rise by 7%, against a 53-week year, and adjusted profit before tax rise by 61%. This has resulted in an increase of the full year dividend of 21%, showing a continued return to a progressive dividend policy.

Simon Emeny and his team have made some excellent new appointments over the last couple of years. Sam Bourke, who we added to our team in the role of Marketing Director in autumn 2022, is making a real difference to the way we communicate with customers and the campaigns we undertake to attract new business and further build on our food, drink and accommodation offer. Carrie Joslin, our new Food & Drink Director who joined in September 2023, is already making an excellent contribution.

Meanwhile our People & Talent Director Dawn Browne - who may not be new to Fuller's but joined the Board in July 2023 - has brought her expertise in both people and operations to the boardroom, while also driving further investment in our talented team members.

On the property front, we have continued investing in our existing estate to deliver further value. A plethora of outstanding schemes have been completed during the year from Portishead in the West to EC3 in the East, building on our commitment to always having one of the best estates in the industry. While some of these are transformational schemes, which will open sites like The Rising Sun in the beautiful New Forest and The Forester in Ealing to new audiences, others are primarily to ensure our wonderful, iconic sites are always looking their best and deserving of their premium position.

During the year, we have used our capital wisely - buying back our own shares, which we know are currently still at a considerable discount to their true value. In 2021, you will remember that we raised equity through a placing of 6.5 million 'A' shares at £8.30 each. Since September 2022, we have bought back over 3 million of our shares and today we have announced that we intend to continue the buyback programme, aiming to repurchase up to the 6.5 million 'A' shares that were issued in 2021. To date, the buyback has been completed at a 30% discount to the £8.30 price of the share issue. This leaves your Company in a strong financial position and ready to take advantage of appropriate acquisition opportunities.

Finally, it just remains for me to pay tribute to our amazing team members across the business. They are the backbone of the Company and the source of our success. I am proud to be their Chairman and I thank each and every one for their continued contribution, dedication and enthusiasm.

DIVIDEND

The Board is pleased to announce a final dividend of 11.12p (FY2023: 10.0p) per 40p 'A' and 'C' ordinary share and 1.112p (FY2023: 1.0p) per 4p 'B' ordinary share, representing a year on year increase of 11%. This will be paid on 25 July 2024 to shareholders on the share register as at 5 July 2024. The total dividend of 17.75p (FY2023: 14.68p) per 40p 'A' and 'C' ordinary share and 1.775p (FY2023: 1.468p) per 4p 'B' ordinary share represents a 21% year-on-year increase.

Michael Turner

Chairman

12 June 2024

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REVIEW

OVERVIEW

It has been a strong year for Fuller's, and I am pleased and proud of the progress we have made. All parts of the Company have performed well - with like for like sales in our Managed Pubs and Hotels increasing by 11%, Tenanted Inns operating profit rising 4% and adjusted profit before tax rising 61% to £20.5 million.

The actions we have undertaken during the year, doubling down on investing in our iconic pubs and hotels and in our amazing team, have delivered excellent results this year and will ensure continued growth in the future. The long-term strengths of the Company - a predominately freehold estate, premium position and strong Balance Sheet - provide excellent foundations for our consistent, clear and long-term strategy.

Investing in our iconic pubs and hotels ensures we maintain our premium position, which in turn optimises revenue and profit from our sites. Meanwhile our focus on ensuring we have the best training and development for our people delivers an outstanding customer experience, setting Fuller's apart and delivering profitable sales growth. This will result in further growth both organically and by generating the financial strength that will enable us to capitalise on appropriate acquisition opportunities if and when they arise.

We took a number of strategic decisions during the year which have also delivered excellent results including the transfer of 23 sites from our Managed Pubs and Hotels division to Tenanted Inns, which is on track to deliver an incremental £1 million in profit in a full year. We have also, as previously announced, agreed the sale of The Mad Hatter in Southwark for a total value of £20 million, and post year end, we agreed the sale of 37 non-core pubs to Admiral Taverns for £18.3 million.  

TRADING UPDATE

Our success during the year has been due to outstanding work by our teams across the estate and in our support office at Pier House. The team has rolled out new initiatives, focused on our long-term strategy and vision and delivered excellent results. We set ourselves a goal at the beginning of the financial year to deliver a record number of record sales weeks - and our teams across the business rose to the challenge. We smashed our target - not only generating great sales, but also motivating our team and giving plenty of opportunities to recognise, acknowledge and celebrate success.

Giving our customers reasons to visit

Knowing your customers is key for any business and during the year we have completed work to better understand our key customer groups. This work not only allows us to refine our offer, and monitor changes in behaviour post-covid, but also to identify potential customers with similar characteristics that we can target both on and offline.

To further aid development, ideas and growth in our food business, and building on the appointment of Carrie Joslin as Food & Drink Director last autumn, we have opened a new development kitchen and training centre in Reading. This facility will allow for even more creativity and innovation, and we are excited by what the future could bring in this area.

This customer work has been particularly useful for transformational refurbishments and to target marketing activity, post-investment, at a number of our sites. This additional customer knowledge has driven decisions on menu options, drinks range, decor, and the events and activities we stage within our sites. While it is early days, the initial signs are positive and we continue to learn, develop and improve this process.

Supporting this wider piece of work is our desire to keep our customers coming back with exciting in-pub events. We have continued with our cultural events programme - with another successful summer season of Shakespeare and opera, while adding panto, classic plays and a host of other events and activities. We have also upweighted our focus on sport, including a wider range of sharing options on the menu and improved promotion of forthcoming sporting events. We have increased the number of sites that show sport, and we have exciting plans to build on this activity in the coming year, particularly around the imminent UEFA European Football Championship.

Strong growth across food, drink and accommodation

During the year, we have seen growth in like for like sales and volumes in all our key areas - food, drink and accommodation.

Our food sales have risen by 14.5% on a like for like basis. This comes on the back of work completed to improve our menu development process, allowing for better bespoke dish creation and changes to the way menus are designed and presented that reflect the customer segment for that particular site. In addition, we have launched an exciting new kids' menu - by kids, for kids - during the year, appealing to our important family market. This has improved margins and was nominated for a Restaurant Marketer and Innovator award.

A first-class premium drinks range has always been at the heart of the great Fuller's pub, and our like for like drinks sales have risen by 9.8%. We have hosted over 100 guest cask ales in our pubs during the year - including a number of brews that are unique to Fuller's pubs from breweries including Siren and Tiny Rebel. Although we have always had a premium range, we have introduced a number of super premium spirits including Casamigos Tequila. We also continue to widen our appeal to those seeking low or no alcohol alternatives and sales in this category, for beers alone, have risen by 81% in value. Our bottled sales of no and low alcohol beers now account for one in five of all packaged sales.

Our accommodation business has also seen impressive growth during the year, with like for like accommodation sales rising 7.8%, RevPAR rising to £97.26 (FY2023: £89.47), a rise in occupancy rates to 79% (FY2023: 78%) and a 9% increase in average room rate to £119.84. We also continue to grow our direct bookings - which are up by 36% during the year - and we are using our digital platforms to make sure that our customers can enhance their stay with dinner bookings and events easily booked at the same time.

Investing for the future in our pubs and people

Over the last 12 months, we have taken the opportunity to increase investment in the pubs we already own and the teams that operate them. Hence, the last quarter of the financial year has been particularly busy for investments across our estate - both in terms of transformational schemes aimed at broadening the appeal of our wonderful pubs and hotels to new audiences, and light-touch investment to keep our pubs looking their absolute best. As a result, total investment spend for the year was £27.2 million.

Investment highlights over the last year include a substantial scheme at The Rising Sun in the heart of the New Forest, a pub we acquired in late summer 2022. A transformational refurbishment has broadened the pub's appeal and we have increased covers both inside and outside, with a wonderful garden scheme to maximise summer months and shoulder period trading.

We have also undertaken trade-enhancing investment schemes at sites including The Windmill in Portishead, overlooking the Severn Estuary, The Butcher's Hook & Cleaver in Smithfield, and The Forester in Ealing - a site that we transferred from our Tenanted Inns division to our Managed Pubs and Hotels business in June 2023. The results from all sites are already looking very positive.

On the people front, we have invested heavily in our leaders with a new leadership framework called Lead Your Way, which combines residential courses with online and face to face learning. This has been rolled out to all our General Managers, and in the coming financial year will be extended to Head Chefs and support centre managers. The programme has been incredibly well received and we are already seeing the benefits of this work.

It has been another busy year for our People Team. We held our first General Managers' Conference for four years, completed a review and relaunch of our flagship Management Training Programme for the leaders of the future, recruited 144 new apprentices and

launched our Inclusion Action Plan with a focus on age, neurodiversity and inclusion training for all our senior leaders.

Life is too good to waste

We have made good progress in all areas of our Life is too good to waste campaign - working on initiatives relating to our people, our planet and our communities. Starting with the last of these, we continue to raise awareness of, and money for, Special Olympics Great Britain. Last year's popular Bridge Walk and Football Tournaments raised a total of £37,000 across the two and we also completed work on a neurodiverse recruitment guide that was launched in April.

Work continues on our commitment to achieve Net Zero by 2040 (2030 for Scope 1 & 2) and we were pleased to have had our science-based emissions reduction target approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. We now have 15 Sustainability Champions across our pubs and hotels to support our sustainability programme, help embed new initiatives, roll out best practice and share new ideas. We have committed to reduce our food waste by 50% by 2030 as a signatory to the Courtauld Commitment and we continue to improve our recycling rates.

The benefits of the focus on sustainability include reducing our electricity usage by 3.5% and our gas by 6.5% during the last financial year, with considerable associated cost savings. Other highlights for the year include increasing the number of fully electric kitchens - 10% of our Managed Pubs and Hotels now have fully electric kitchens - achieving the Green Tourism Bronze Award in 12 hotels and gaining BII Sustainability Champion status for our entire Managed estate.

TENANTED INNS

It has been another good year for our Tenanted Inns with revenue rising by 13%. The Business Development Team has strong relationships with all our Tenants and we have invested in further support around marketing and promotion to ensure our Tenants can grow their business - which in turn grows ours. Our core Tenanted business is very strong and delivers excellent returns for the business with high margins and relatively low capital.

The 23 pubs we transferred from our Managed Pubs and Hotels division to our Tenanted Inns during the first half of the year have performed well, generating £1 million of incremental annualised profit. It is particularly pleasing to see our former General Managers in some of these sites relishing their new life as Tenants. Despite the obvious additional responsibility, they are showing creativity and innovation - and that individuality allows these sites to flourish.

Fuller's is committed to owning and operating both Managed and Tenanted pubs as an integral part of the Company's future strategy - each operating model has its strengths and can learn from the other. The Company actively manages its pub estate, continually evaluating strategic opportunities, and has agreed the sale of 37 pubs to Admiral Taverns allowing the Company to focus on the development of its retained Managed and Tenanted estates. The sale proceeds are £18.3 million, and it is due to complete on 25 June 2024.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

We are pleased to have delivered an excellent set of financial results, showing significant progress in the year. Revenue grew by 7% to £359.1 million (FY2023: £336.6 million) and adjusted profit before tax increased by 61% to £20.5 million (FY2023: £12.7 million). 

The increased revenues, combined with effective cost management, has enabled operating profits to grow by 37% to £34.5 million with operating margins improving to 9.6% (FY2023: 7.4%). This was achieved despite a challenging inflationary environment with food inflation averaging 9.3% and the increase in National Living Wage resulting in labour inflation of 6.3%. However, there were some movements in our favour, with total utilities costs for the year reducing to £11.6 million, saving £2 million on the prior year (FY2023: £13.6 million), albeit remaining significantly higher than the £6.3 million charged in FY2020.

In our Managed Pubs and Hotel business, like for like sales grew by 11% compared to the prior year, with total sales increasing by 6%. In the year, we transferred 23 sites from our Managed business to our Tenanted business, and excluding the impact of those sites, total sales were up 10%. The performance of our urban sites was particularly strong, with like for like sales up 15.6%, which follows an increase of 32.8% in the prior year. The revenues generated by Managed Pubs and Hotels are well balanced across all categories, with drink like for like sales up 9.8% and food like for like sales up 14.5%. We delivered volume increases in both categories, up 1.1% and 3.8% respectively, reflecting strong underlying growth and recognition of our customers' appreciation of our offer. Accommodation also performed well with total sales up 5.3% and RevPAR increasing by £7.79 to £97.26.

Tenanted Inns revenue grew by 13% from £29.8 million to £33.8 million. Operating profits also increased by 4% up to £13.7 million (FY2023: £13.2 million). There was a marginal decline in operating margins as a result of one-off costs associated with the transfer of the 23 sites from the Managed business.

Total net finance costs (before separately disclosed items) have increased by £1.6 million to £14.0 million. This increase is due to the rise in the Bank of England base rate at the beginning of the year, which has remained high at 5.25%. The Group has a zero premium cap and collar over £60 million of the term facility, which has a floor of 310bps and a cap of 500bps. This gave some protection when the rate went over 500bps in August 2023. The Group also repaid one of its debentures of £6 million in December 2023 which had a fixed interest rate of 10.7%. Overall, this has meant that the average cost of borrowing was 8.0% in the current financial year compared to 7.0% in the prior year.

The net position on separately disclosed items is an expense of £6.1 million (FY2023: £2.4 million expense). This consists of a release of a VAT provision of £1.1 million on settlement of a claim; a net credit of £0.4 million for legal and insurance claims; a finance credit of £0.7 million on the Group's pension surplus; offset by an £8.3 million impairment charge relating to the write down of a number of properties and right-of-use assets to their recoverable value net of the reversals of impairments on five properties.

The underlying effective tax rate has increased to 28.3% (FY2023: 22.8%). The increase in the effective tax rate is mainly due to the withdrawal of the capital allowance super-deduction from April 2023. The main driver of the increase in effective tax rate on adjusted profits over the standard rate of tax is non-deductible depreciation on assets that do not qualify for capital allowances.

The Group has unsecured banking facilities of £200 million, comprising a revolving credit facility of £110 million and a term loan of £90 million. During the year, the Group agreed with its lenders to extend these facilities for a further year through to May 2027. The facilities bear interest at a margin dependent on the leverage covenant plus a base rate of SONIA.

Net debt (excluding leases) was at £133.1 million (FY2023: £132.8 million). This was a marginal increase from last year as the Group has implemented its capital allocation framework through investment in the estate and returns to shareholders. A total of £27.2 million was invested in the existing estate in the year with transformational schemes at The Sanctuary House in Westminster, The Rising Sun in the New Forest, The Forester in Ealing and The Counting House in the City.

A share buyback programme of two million 'A' shares was completed in FY2024 for a total of £12.4 million. A further share buyback programme of one million 'A' shares started at the end of March 2024 and is ongoing, and an intention to buy back up to an additional 2.5 million 'A' shares was announced today. 

The improvement in EBITDA has meant that net debt/EBITDA is now at 2.5x which remains in line with our capital allocation framework and provides headroom for acquisition opportunities if they arise.

The defined benefit pension scheme surplus has increased by £2.7 million to £17.3 million accounting surplus (FY2023: £14.6 million surplus) as a result of a decrease in the present value of pension obligations as the discount rate increased from 4.75% to 4.85%, offset by only a small decline in the fair value of scheme assets. As the Group has an unconditional right to refund under the pension trust deed, an asset has been recognised as at 30 March 2024.

The proposed final dividend of 11.12p per 'A' and 'C' ordinary share (FY2023: 10.0p), together with the interim dividend of 6.63p per share already paid makes a total of 17.75p per share, which is an increase of 21% on the prior year and continues our return to a progressive dividend policy.

CURRENT TRADING AND OUTLOOK

We have continued to build on the strong momentum of the last year with like for like sales in the first 10 weeks of the year rising by 4.4%. We have commenced a wide-ranging investment programme, with seven schemes already on site or completed since the start of the new financial year. 

Complementing this investment in our properties is continued investment in our people. We will be rolling out our leadership development programme to our support centre managers and Head Chefs and continuing to provide development opportunities to team members at all levels across the business.

Fuller's has delivered excellent results in the last financial year, despite the high inflationary environment. As of today, those inflationary pressures - especially in regard to food and energy - have reduced, which gives us additional confidence in the coming year.

As a Company, we are primed for further success and growth. We will continue with our share buyback programme and we will benefit from the sale of The Mad Hatter in July 2024 for a total consideration of £20 million, and £18.3 million from the sale of 37 non-core pubs to Admiral Taverns.

With the solid financial foundation of a strong Balance Sheet and a first-class, predominately freehold estate of iconic pubs and hotels, combined with a team that has the ability and capacity to drive the business forward, we are confident and excited by the opportunities the future will bring.

Simon Emeny

Chief Executive

12 June 2024

Fuller, Smith & Turner P.L.C.

Condensed Group Income Statement

For the 52 weeks ended 30 March 2024

Fuller, Smith & Turner P.L.C.

Condensed Group Income Statement (continued)

For the 52 weeks ended 30 March 2024

Fuller, Smith & Turner P.L.C.

Condensed Group Statement of Comprehensive Income

For the 52 weeks ended 30 March 2024

Fuller, Smith & Turner P.L.C.

Condensed Group Balance Sheet

30 March 2024

Fuller, Smith & Turner P.L.C.

Condensed Group Balance Sheet (continued)

30 March 2024