Marston’s secures £70m funding boost to help pubs through sustained closures

Pub firm and brewer Marston’s has secured an extra £70 million in funding to help it survive until the end of the year even if its pubs remain closed.

The company said it has agreed the additional liquidity with its bank to support it through sustained pub closures.

Marston’s shut all its 1,350 UK pubs in March after the Government-mandated lockdown in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

The pub group said the timescale for when its pubs will reopen remains “uncertain”, despite the Government announcing earlier this week that it hopes that pubs will have the potential to reopen in early July.

It said it awaits more detail from the Government in due course and therefore strengthened its balance sheet to help it through the period of uncertainty.

Marston’s said it will also be strengthened by ongoing Government support for furloughed staff, deferred tax payments and rent relief, and continued income from beer sales in supermarkets.

It also said it has secured agreement with its banks to amend its covenants for September 2020 and March 2021.

The group has also called a meeting of its bondholders for May 29 to seek some technical waivers and amendments.

Shares in the company dipped 1.1% lower to 29.66p in early trading on Thursday.