Mitchells & Butlers, one of the UK’s largest operators of managed restaurants and pubs with a chain of outlets in Tayside and Fife, blamed a 13.3% fall in profits last year on higher charges.
The company’s Vintage Inns eateries include the Cambustay in Broughty Ferry, the Fettykil Fox in Glenrothes and the Glover Arms in Perth.
Mitchells & Butlers also operates Toby Carveries, one of which is at the Isle of Skye in Perth; and Harvesters, which can be found at Broxden Manor in Perth and Halbeath Park in Dunfermline.
The company’s pre-tax profit fell from £142 million to £123m last year, and included a £37m charge for net movement in the property portfolio and £12m for acquisition and integration costs relating to buying the Orchid Group.
Excluding these and other factors, pre-tax profit would have been £172m, compared with £171m a year ago.
Total revenue for 2014 was up 4% at £1.9 billion and like-for-like sales were up 0.6%.
Performance for the first eight weeks of the new year was encouraging with like-for-like sales growth of 2.4%.
With profit before tax down to £123m, basic earnings per share were down from 31.2p in 2013 to 22.6p.
Capital expenditure increased by 26.5% to £162m, including 23 new site openings and eight conversions. A total of £258m was invested in the acquisition of 173 largely freehold pubs from the Orchid Group.
Like-for-like food volume grew 0.9% and operating margin before exceptional items was 15.9%.
Chief executive Alistair Darby said: “In the last year we have made significant progress, investing in the business for future growth.
“We completed the acquisition of Orchid, accelerated remodel and expansionary capital expenditure and have made a substantial investment in our systems.
“At the same time we have maintained our focus on the delivery of our four key priorities. In the year ahead, we will continue these actions.
“The business is gathering momentum and we have made an encouraging start to the year.
“We expect to benefit further from these investments during this financial year.”