UK, London: British brewer and publican Fuller, Smith and Turner said on Friday, November 26 it wanted to double its number of pubs, as it served up a small rise in half-year profits despite a slower summer and higher costs. Fuller's, which has made ales for 150 years and operates more than 200 pubs, also said it did not expect an adverse impact from the UK government's plans to ban smoking in most pubs and restaurants from 2008, Reuters revealed.

The London Pride brewer said pretax profits before exceptionals rose slightly to 8.2 million pounds ($15.2 million) in the half-year to Sept. 25 on 73 million pounds of sales. Its shares were down 2.5 percent at 717.5 pence in early trading. "We would like to double the size of the estate," Chief Executive Michael Turner said, adding at least 8 new sites would be confirmed by March.

The company said it had started shipping beer to Canada and was considering one other foreign market. It already exports to Scandanavia and the United States. Resurgent sales in London's City financial district and at its hotels offset unusually wet summer weather and higher refurbishment and advertising costs, Turner said. "The monsoon season (this year) caught us by surprise."

City of London like-for-like sales, where the firm runs 23 pubs, grew three percent and hotel revenue increased six percent while Fuller's Inns profits dipped five percent to 7.7 million pounds. "Once it (The City) starts to turn it will be a long-term recovery," Turner said, adding sales had accelerated since then.

Turner said government proposals to ban smoking in all pubs serving food by the end of 2008 would likely not impact revenue because of the time smokers had to adjust. Beer profits grew 8 percent to 3.5 million pounds, boosted by a 27 percent increase in export revenue. Fuller's raised its interim dividend 5.1 percent to 5.36 pence.

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