Marston’s interim results 2026: profit up, margins up, but sales still a bit soft
Marston’s has put out a solid set of first-half numbers. The headline story is that profit and margins improved, even though revenue slipped slightly and like-for-like sales were a touch negative. For retail investors, that tells you the business is getting more efficient and is squeezing more profit out of each pound of sales.
The other big angle is growth. Management has accelerated its pub refurbishment programme, finished 60 new-format conversions in the half, and now has 91 reformatted pubs trading into the crucial summer period. With the World Cup ahead in H2, Marston’s is clearly backing those upgraded sites to do some heavy lifting.
Marston’s H1 2026 key numbers investors need to know
| Metric | H1 2026 | H1 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £422.7 million | £427.4 million | (1.1)% |
| Underlying EBITDA | £85.9 million | £85.9 million | Flat |
| Underlying EBITDA margin | 20.3% | 20.1% | Up 20bps |
| Underlying operating profit | £64.4 million | £63.3 million | 1.7% |
| Underlying profit before tax | £20.5 million | £19.0 million | 7.9% |
| Statutory profit before tax | £23.3 million | £19.5 million | 19.5% |
| Basic underlying EPS | 2.4 pence | 2.2 pence | 9.1% |
| Capex | £39.0 million | £31.0 million | 25.8% |
| Recurring free cash flow | (£15.6 million) | £5.9 million | Lower |
| Net debt excluding IFRS 16 | £857.7 million | £881.1 million | (2.7)% |
One quick bit of jargon. EBITDA is a profit measure used to show trading performance before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. Underlying means Marston’s is stripping out one-off or non-core items to show the business’s normal operating performance.
Why Marston’s profit and margin growth matters more than the slight revenue dip
Revenue fell 1.1% to £422.7 million, which is not ideal on the face of it. But Marston’s says £2.2 million of sales were lost because pubs were temporarily closed during refurbishments, so some of that weakness was self-inflicted for future gain rather than demand simply falling off a cliff.
More importantly, underlying profit before tax rose 7.9% to £20.5 million and underlying operating profit edged up to £64.4 million. That is a good outcome when like-for-like sales were down 0.5% and wage costs were rising.
The margin story is arguably the most impressive part of this update. Underlying EBITDA margin improved to 20.3%, and management says it would have been 20.7% excluding the impact of closure periods at the new-format pubs. That suggests the core operating machine is running better than before.
Marston’s says labour productivity improvements, procurement savings and repair efficiencies helped offset higher National Insurance contributions, the National Living Wage, and broader inflation. In plain English, the company is getting tighter operationally, and that matters because pub businesses live and die on margin control.
New Marston’s pub formats are the growth engine – and the returns look strong
This is where the update gets more interesting. Marston’s completed 60 new pub format refurbishments in H1, ahead of its original full-year target of at least 50. That is a pretty clear signal management likes what it is seeing.
Across FY2025 and FY2026, 91 pubs have now been reformatted. The average refurbishment cost is around £260,000 per pub, which is modest if the returns stack up. According to the company, these sites are delivering average return on invested capital, or ROIC, of 35% and post-conversion like-for-like growth of about 20%.
That is strong. Very strong, in fact. If those returns prove sustainable, this is exactly the sort of self-help growth story investors want from a mature pub estate.
The standout format looks to be Grandstand, Marston’s sports-led concept. Across the 10 sites open for more than three months, like-for-like revenue growth is around 30%, ROIC exceeds 40%, and EBITDA margins are said to be significantly ahead of the group average.
That helps explain why Marston’s is already evaluating an expanded rollout of around 100 sites for FY2027. If you are wondering why the market may warm to this statement, that is probably the key reason.
Digital growth and customer spend are improving at Marston’s pubs
Digital is becoming a bigger part of the story too. Order & Pay now handles up to 15% of weekly transactions, and the company says digital orders deliver an average spend uplift of around 15% versus till transactions over the four-week period to 11 April 2026.
That matters because digital is not just a gimmick. If it increases spend, speeds up service and helps staff work more efficiently during busy periods, it supports both revenue and margin at the same time.
Customer metrics moved in the right direction as well. Reputation score improved to 806 from 800, which suggests guests are responding well to the investment programme.
Cash flow, debt and no dividend: the main weak spots in Marston’s H1 results
Now for the less shiny bits. Recurring free cash flow was an outflow of £15.6 million, compared with an inflow of £5.9 million last year. That is a meaningful swing, although management says it was expected because expansionary capex was front-loaded into H1, along with working capital and tax payments.
Capital expenditure rose to £39.0 million from £31.0 million, with £13.9 million spent on the 60 format conversions. That is a big investment push, and it explains why cash flow looked weak in the half.
Debt is still high, even if the trend is improving. Net debt excluding IFRS 16 lease liabilities fell to £857.7 million from £881.1 million, and leverage improved to 4.7x from 4.9x. That is progress, but it is still elevated enough that Marston’s is not paying an interim dividend.
For income investors, that is the obvious downside. The company says leverage remains higher than target, so cash is still being prioritised for balance sheet repair. Sensible, yes. Exciting, not especially.
World Cup summer trading could be the H2 catalyst for Marston’s shares
Management says the group is well positioned for the second half, with all 91 newly invested sites open and trading through H2. The World Cup is being flagged as a major opportunity, especially for the Grandstand pubs.
There is a slight caution flag here. Like-for-like sales for the 31 weeks are down 1.5%, reflecting what Marston’s says was an extremely strong April last year. So the short-term sales backdrop is not entirely clean.
Still, the company sounds confident. It is guiding to full-year market expectations, with company-compiled forecasts for FY2026 underlying profit before tax of £78.7 million, within a range of £76.1 million to £83.2 million. It also says it remains on track for more than £50 million of recurring free cash flow for the full year and leverage of around 4.0x by year end.
My take on Marston’s H1 results for retail investors
I think this is a good update, not a perfect one. The positives are stronger than the negatives: profit is up, margins are improving, debt is moving the right way, and the refurbishments appear to be generating attractive returns.
The negatives are clear enough too. Sales are not firing across the whole estate, free cash flow was negative in the half, and the balance sheet still limits shareholder returns. That means this is not yet a clean, carefree recovery story.
But if the new formats keep delivering 20% sales uplifts and 35% returns, the investment case gets more interesting from here. Marston’s looks like a company trying to turn a big pub estate into a more productive, higher-margin machine – and in this half, it looks like that plan is starting to work.
