Pub group Fuller, Smith & Turner says it has lost £4m in sales and will miss its profit targets this year due to the impact of rail strikes, inflation and cost of utilities.

The pubco, which runs nearly 400 pubs, warned that cost-of-living pressures were weighing heavily on the business.

Chief executive Simon Emeny (pictured) blamed “frustrating” train strikes for reducing festive sales in its city-centre venues.

The pub group, which has an estate mainly concentrated in London and the South-East, said industrial action since October had reduced sales by £4m. Fuller’s said it now forecast full-year earnings to fall below market expectations of £17.3m.

Sales for the four-week Christmas and New Year period were up 38 per cent on the previous year when the hospitality industry was hobbled by the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

But the company added that the biggest wave of industrial action across the UK’s rail network in decades meant sales over the four weeks were five per cent lower than the same period in 2019.

Emeny said: “While it is frustrating that the train strikes have set back our reported sales and earnings, it is reassuring that we are achieving our anticipated sales trajectory in periods unaffected by strikes. 

“While ongoing strike action will dampen sales, demand from customers remains good and we are optimistic that 2023 will deliver further sales growth through a busy calendar of events, and as office workers and tourists continue to return to the capital.

“We are operating in a high inflation environment and that continues to impact our operating costs and margins. While some of these costs may be temporary in nature, others – such as the National Living Wage increase – are more permanent and we are focused on taking action to mitigate these costs wherever we can.

“Although strike action and the cost-of-living crisis create short-term hurdles to our post-pandemic recovery, we remain confident in the resilience of the pub and the future opportunity for Fuller’s.

“We are a long-term business, and we will continue to invest in our people, in our properties and in providing excellent reasons for our customers to visit.

“These are challenging times, but our fundamental strengths of a talented and experienced team, a high-quality, well invested, predominately freehold estate, and a healthy balance sheet provide the foundations for us to make the right long-term decisions in this period of short-term turbulence.”