Mitchells & Butlers confirms 1,300 redundancies

Mitchells & Butlers has confirmed it has had to make approximately 1,300 redundancies alongside site closures.

The group – which has a brand portfolio including Harvester, Toby Carvery, O'Neills, Miller & Carter and All Bar One – said it had "not been immune to the impacts of the pandemic… The reduced levels of activity and closure of a small number of our sites meant that we could no longer support these roles".

In its full-year results to 26 September 2020, the group reported total revenue of £1.48b, a drop of 34.1% on the prior year, due to the impact of Covid restrictions, and a pre-tax loss of £123m against a £177m profit last year.

Although the group said the future trading environment was both "challenging and highly uncertain", the business was "well placed to recover quickly".

Chief executive Phil Urban said: "Throughout a very uncertain and challenging year our businesses and teams have adapted quickly, creating a safe environment for guests and putting us in a strong position to benefit when consumers are able to eat out again. We saw direct evidence of this from a strong trading period in July and August before further restrictions came into force.

"With our great estate, balanced portfolio of brands and proven management team, we remain optimistic that we will be able to regain the momentum previously built and continue to achieve sustained market outperformance, when the current operating restrictions are eased."

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