On-trade like-for-like sales dip in July

Published: 15 August, 2012

On-trade like-for-like sales dipped 0.2% in July compared to last year thanks to poor weather and a lull before the Olympics, according to the Coffer Peach Business Tracker.

The week running up to the Olympics and the first weekend were the worst-performing in July, but the full impact won't be known until August figures are released. Provisional figures indicate that as a whole the first full week of the Games was marginally up on the same week last year.

There was more positive news for the major branded on-trade firms - total sales across the 25 companies included in the tracker sample were up by 3.6% on July 2011.

"This is being driven by a consumer move towards brands, the importance of value as well as quality in customer choice and the continued roll-out of new sites by established operators," said Peter Martin of Peach Factory, the business intelligence specialist that produces the sector Tracker.

"The weather has not helped progress this year," Martin added, "but Tracker data still shows the annualised like-for-like sales growth rate for the leading groups is currently running at 2.2% year-on-year, with total sales running at around 5.8% up. This may be only in-line with inflation, but this sector is beating the economy as a whole when it comes to growth - and is something the government should perhaps recognise."

The report also showed opoprtunities for the major chains are greater outside of London, where they're coming up against "increasingly intense and diverse competition".

Trevor Watson, director at Davis Coffer Lyons, said that comparing figures would be difficult given last summer's riots.

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