Pubs firm Fuller’s on Friday warned of “materially” higher costs than expected to separate itself from the beer arm it offloaded this year.
Fuller’s completed a £250 million sale of the brewery division to Peroni maker Asahi in April, agreeing to run part of it for the new owners until May 2020.
But costs have been pushed up by complications linked to a new IT system installed last year.
Pre-tax profits at Fuller’s, excluding beer, for the year to March, are expected to be £31 million. Some analysts thought they could have been high as £41 million.
Total profits last year were £43.2 million, of which £33 million was from pubs.
Fuller’s said the main pubs and hotels business is trading well. Comparable sales rose 2.3% in the 32 weeks to November 9.
Chief executive Simon Emeny said: “The core business is in very, very good health, and we are reinvesting the proceeds of the sale into growing the business."
