Company type | Public |
---|---|
LSE: MARS | |
Industry | Brewing |
Founded | 1834 |
Founder | John Marston |
Headquarters | Wolverhampton, England |
Key people | William Rucker (chairman) Justin Platt (CEO - effective from 10 January 2024) |
Products | Pubs, hotels, restaurants |
Revenue | £872.3 million (2023) [1] |
£134.7 million (2023) [1] | |
£(9.3) million (2023) [1] | |
Number of employees | 11,000 (2023) [2] |
Website | www |
Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded by John Marston in 1834, [3] it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Marston's disposed of its brewing operations in 2020, selling the assets to a newly formed joint venture with the Carlsberg Group to create the Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company (CMBC), in which Marston's plc holds a 40% share.
In 1834, John Marston established J. Marston & Son at the Horninglow Brewery in Burton upon Trent. [3] By 1861, the brewery produced 3,000 barrels a year. [4] In 1890, Marston & Son Ltd was registered as a limited liability company. [4] In 1898 Marston's amalgamated with John Thompson & Son Ltd and moved to Albion Brewery on Shobnall Road, which the company still operates. [3] By this time the brewery had a capacity of 100,000 barrels a year. [4] It was at this time that the Burton Union System began to be used. [3] In 1905, the company merged with Sydney Evershed to form Marston, Thompson & Evershed. [3]
Banks & Co has been brewing at the Park Brewery in Wolverhampton since 1875. [5] In 1890 Banks became Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries when the company amalgamated with George Thompson & Sons and Charles Colonel Smith's Brewery. [6] In 1943 Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries took over Julia Hanson & Sons, with 200 pubs. [7] It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1947. [6] It acquired Camerons Brewery in Hartlepool in 1992 [6] and sold it to Castle Eden in 2002, whilst retaining some of Cameron's tied pubs. [8]
In 1999, Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries purchased Marston, Thompson & Evershed, and in the same year took over the Mansfield Brewery of Nottinghamshire and closed it down, transferring production of Mansfield beers to the Park Brewery. [9] In 2005, Marston's Brewery took over production under licence from Interbrew of Draught Bass, succeeding Coors. [10] Later in 2005, the Jennings Brewery of Cockermouth was purchased and in 2007 Hampshire-based Ringwood Brewery, which was established in 1978, and brews Best Bitter, Fortyniner, and Old Thumper, was acquired. [11] In 2007, the company changed its name from Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries plc to Marston's plc. [12]
In late 2013, there was some controversy when it was announced that Marston's would sell some 200 pubs to new company New River Retail. The fear was that many would close and be turned into convenience stores. [13] In 2014, the company took over production of most Thwaites beers. On 31 March 2015, it was announced the company was buying the bulk of Thwaites beer supply business outright and the top two brands Wainwright and Lancaster Bomber for around £25m. [14] In May 2017, Marston's announced further expansion with the acquisition of Charles Wells's Eagle Brewery in Bedford. This gave Marston's ownership of the Bombardier, Courage and McEwan's ale brands, and the global licence for Young's beers. [15]
In February 2020, Marston's signed a five-year extension to its distribution deal with Japanese beer maker Kirin. [16]
In May 2020, it was announced that subject to competition law and shareholder approval, Marston's would merge its brewing business with Carlsberg UK (the United Kingdom arm of Carlsberg Group), into a joint venture valued at £780m. Marston's will take a 40% stake in the joint venture and receive up to £273m in cash. The deal will involve Marston's six breweries and distribution depots, but not its 1,400 pubs. [17] [18] The merger was approved by the Competition and Markets Authority on 9 October 2020. The new brewing company will be headquartered in Wolverhampton and be known as Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company. It was also announced that the transaction was expected to be completed by the end of October 2020. [19] The same month, the company announced that it will cut over 2,150 jobs (a fifth of their employees) as a result of the strict UK government measures to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. [20] In December 2020, Marston's took over the running of 156 pubs in Wales from Welsh brewer Brains. [21]
Andrew Adonis Andrea stepped down as CEO with immediate effect on 17 November 2023. [22] He was replaced by Justin Platt. [23]
By May 2023, the business had become heavily indebted; it set a target of reducing net debt to £1 billion by 2026. J.P. Morgan Cazenove analysts said in May 2023 that "a pub estate with mediocre [Like for Like] sales in recent years, combined with still-high leverage, makes us cautious despite attractive valuation metrics." [24]
The company operates over 1,350 pubs and bars across England and Wales as of 2024, [25] around 300 tenanted and 500 leased and a hotel chain. [26]
Ringwood Brewery is a brand of beer owned by Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company, and was formerly a small brewery on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, England, near the Dorset border. It produced mainly cask ales and some bottled beers.
Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company is a British brewing company. It was formed when Marston's plc disposed of its brewing operations in 2020, selling the assets to a newly formed joint venture with the Carlsberg Group to create the Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company (CMBC), in which Marston's plc holds a 40% share.
Carlsberg A/S is a Danish multinational brewer. Founded in 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen, the company's headquarters is in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since Jacobsen's death in 1887, the majority owner of the company has been the Carlsberg Foundation. The company's flagship brand is Carlsberg. Other brands include Tuborg, Kronenbourg, Somersby cider, Holsten, Neptun, Belgian Grimbergen, Fix, one of Greece's oldest brands and more than 500 local beers. The company employs around 41,000 people, primarily in Europe and Asia. Carlsberg is currently the 6th largest brewery in the world based on revenue.
Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold.
Bass Brewery was founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The main brand was Bass Pale Ale, once the highest-selling beer in the UK. By 1877, Bass had become the largest brewery in the world, with an annual output of one million barrels. Its pale ale was exported throughout the British Empire, and the company's red triangle became the UK's first registered trade mark.
Wychwood Brewery was a brewery in Witney, Oxfordshire, England, owned by Marston's. Hobgoblin, a 5.2% abv brown ale, was the company's flagship brand.
McEwan's is a brand of beer owned by Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company. It was originally brewed by William McEwan's Fountain Brewery in Edinburgh, Scotland. The McEwan's brand passed to Heineken in 2008 after their purchase of Scottish & Newcastle's British operations. Heineken sold the brand to Wells & Young's in 2011, who sold their brewing operation, including the McEwan brand to Marston's in 2017. Cans and bottles are now brewed in Bedford, England.
Thwaites Brewery is a regional brewery founded in 1807 by Daniel Thwaites in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, now located near Mellor in the Ribble Valley. Part of the company was sold to Marston's in 2015, and the original brewery was demolished in 2019. Thwaites still produces beer on a smaller scale.
Brooklyn Brewery is a brewery in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It was started in 1988 by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter.
Wells & Co. is the holding company of the Charles Wells Brewery and Pub Company. Charles Wells Ltd was founded in 1876 by Charles Wells in Bedford, England.
Wrexham Lager is a lager brewed in Wrexham, north-east Wales, tracing its heritage to 1881. After the original brewery's closure in 2000, the brand was revived by the Roberts family in 2011 using an older recipe.
Young's is a British pub chain operating nearly 220 pubs.
Jennings Brewery was established as a family concern in 1828 in the village of Lorton, between Buttermere and Cockermouth in the Lake District, England. The brewery was started by John Jennings Snr, son of William Jennings. Jennings brewed exclusively in Lorton until 1874 when its present home, the Castle Brewery in Cockermouth, was purchased. The Lorton brewery closed some five years later.
Beer in Asia began when beer was produced in Sumer, Mesopotamia circa 6000 years ago. It was introduced by Europeans in the 19th century, with modern breweries established in British India, the Dutch East Indies, China, and Japan. Asia's first modern brewery was established in 1830 in India entirely using European brewing technology.
Burton upon Trent has a long history of brewing, at one time exporting beer throughout the world and accounting for a quarter of UK beer production; emulation of Burton water in brewing is called Burtonisation. Much of the town was given over to the industry throughout the 19th century and brewers dominated it politically and socially.
The International Brewing Awards, previously known as the Brewing Industry International Awards (BIIA), is a biannual brewing competition with its origins dating to 1886. It is believed to be the oldest international brewing competition in the world.
Tetley's Brewery(Joshua Tetley & Son Ltd) was an English regional brewery founded in 1822 by Joshua Tetley in Hunslet, now a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire. The beer was originally produced at the Leeds Brewery, which was later renamed the Leeds Tetley Brewery to avoid confusion with a microbrewery of the same name.
Wells & Young's Brewery was formed in 2006 from a merger of the brewing operations of Charles Wells Ltd and Young's Brewery. Charles Wells initially had a 60% stake and Young's 40%. In 2011, Charles Wells took full control when it bought Young's 40% stake. Wells & Young's is now responsible for brewing, distributing and marketing Charles Wells' and Young & Co's brands at the Eagle Brewery in Bedford.
Camerons Brewery is an English brewery established by John William Cameron in Stranton, Hartlepool, County Durham, in 1865. It is the largest independent brewer in the North East of England, with a brewery capacity of 1.5 million hectolitres and a tied estate of 75 houses. It is one of the oldest industrial concerns in Hartlepool, and has historically been one of the largest employers.
Beer is produced through steeping a sugar source in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt. Descriptions of various beer recipes can be found in Sumerian writings, some of the oldest known writing of any sort. Brewing is done in a brewery by a brewer, and the brewing industry is part of most western economies. In 19th century Britain, technological discoveries and improvements such as Burtonisation and the Burton Union system significantly changed beer brewing.