Major Fife pub and hotel group Kingdom Taverns had its most profitable year ever in 2019.
Established in Kirkcaldy in 1991, the business operates and leases more than 30 pubs across Scotland.
Key locations include Tipsy Cow, Penny Farthing and Society in Kirkcaldy as well as Crieff’s Pretoria Bar, Pinkertons in Glenrothes, Jokers in Dunfermline and The New Inn in St Andrews.
The business, controlled by Edward Quinn Melville, also counts Glendevon Hotel in Auchterarder in its portfolio.
New filings at Companies House show the company recorded a pre-tax profit of £1.2 million for the year ending July 31 2019.
This compares to a loss of £589,000 in 2018, when an impairment loss of £952,000 was recorded.
Revenues for the business remained steady year-on-year at £5.7m, while last year’s impairment loss was £125,000.
In his strategic report, director Edward Dean Melville said: “Competition has increased in the marketplace and margins remain under pressure.
“The group has a bank term loan which is exposed to interest rate fluctuations. The group seeks to manage this risk by means of appropriate treasury management.
“In addition, the directors seek to control overhead costs in order to minimise the group’s losses and generate profits.
“The directors aim to maintain the management policies adopted during the period to July 31 2019 and consider the group is well placed to take advantage of opportunities which may arise in the current year.”
The company also has interests in Dundee as well as more in Falkirk, Kilmarnock, Stirling, Dumfriesshire and Edinburgh.
The group leases bars to third party licensees but the accounts show it carried an in-house team of 135 staff in 2019, a slight fall on the average employee count of 140 it had in 2018.
rmclaren@thecourier.co.uk