Mitchells & Butlers delays pension contributions

Mitchells & Butlers – which operates brands including Harvester, Toby Carvery, All Bar One, Miller & Carter, O'Neill's and Ember Inns – will be delaying its monthly pension contributions from January to March 2021.

The news comes as the group said it had just £113m left as of 16 January with all facilities drawn as it launched its open offer with hopes to raise up to £351m this morning. Its pension contributions will become due in April.

All of the group's sites have been closed since 30 December 2020, during which time the group's has been burning through between £30-£35m every four weeks.

The group said its liquidity position had "deteriorated significantly" due to the impact of Covid restrictions and the open offer was "critical" for the continued operation of the group and its immediate financial stability.

Phil Urban, chief executive of Mitchells & Butlers said: "M&B was a high performing business coming into the pandemic and with the support of our main stakeholders, including the equity injection from this open offer, we have every confidence that we can emerge in a strong competitive position once current restrictions are lifted.

"The hospitality industry has done everything that has been asked of it to date and, now that the vaccines are being rolled out and infections are dropping, we are hopeful that pubs and restaurants will soon be allowed to reopen safely so that we can start to serve our customers again."

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