Announcing its half-year results to 28 September, pub and bar operator, Yates, reported a one-off hit of £6.5m against the sale of 11 underperforming outlets.

Group turnover for the period was £74.9m, down 2.3 per cent after adjusting for the disposal of the trade sales division, operating profit was £6.8m compared with £7.2m at the same time last year and profit before tax and exceptionals was £4.6m, compared with £5m.

Like for like sales growth at the company’s Ha! Ha! brand was 6 per cent and two new sites opened in the first half – in Nottingham and Staines – are both trading in line with expectations. Efforts are being made to find further sites, with the emphasis on outside eating and drinking.

The Yates brand saw the refurbishment of a further 33 sites to the 21st Century format during the period – bringing the total to 80 – and this invested part of the estate generated like for like sales growth of 1.7 per cent. A further 20 sites will be refurbished by the end of the financial year.

Like for like sales at the unrefurbished outlets dropped 16.9 per cent, however, and 11 sites viewed as being unsuitable for upgrading will be sold.

Chief executive, Mark Jones, said that trading had remained difficult, especially on the high street.

He put the drop in sales and profits down to "the poor performance of our old format Yates estate, branch closures for investment, a lack of outside heating during a very hot August and tough comparisons which included the World Cup and Jubilee last year". Details: www.yates-group.com