ALL BAR ONE owner Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) continues to face a "major challenge" due to ongoing inflation rises while pub chain Fuller's said cost increases were "showing little signs of abating".

M&B experienced a drop in sales by 1.6 per cent in the year to date, claiming a mixture of the Jubilee weekend, industrial action and hot weather saw people go out less.

The Toby Carvery owner said the main drivers of profit in the third quarter of trading was food, at 5.5 per cent of growth, while drink sales dropped 4.9 per cent.

Fuller's said in a pre-AGM update that its like-for-like sales increased 27 per cent year on year in the first quarter.

However, it said that "the industrywide inflationary cost pressures around food supply, labour and particularly energy are showing little signs of abating".

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper