12 May 2026

MARSTON'S PLC

("Marston's" or "the Group")

INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE 26 WEEKS ENDED 28 MARCH 2026

STRONG PROFIT AND MARGIN PERFORMANCE; ON TRACK TO MEET FULL YEAR EXPECTATIONS WITH NEW PUB FORMATS SET TO DRIVE GROWTH IN H2

Marston's, a leading UK hospitality business with an estate of more than 1,300 pubs, today announces its Interim Results for the 26 weeks ended 28 March 2026.

Reliably profitable, high-margin operator

· Underlying EBITDA maintained at £85.9 million (H1 2025: £85.9 million), reflecting disciplined cost control and efficiency initiatives, offsetting the impact of accelerated investment and associated closures.

· Underlying EBITDA margin improved to 20.3% (H1 2025: 20.1%), building on the 140 basis point expansion delivered in FY2025, driven predominantly by further labour productivity gains and reinforcing the Group's position as a high-margin operator.

· Adjusting for the impact of closure periods at new format pubs, underlying EBITDA was £2.0 million higher than H1 2025, and the underlying EBITDA margin was 20.7%, up 60 basis points.

· Underlying operating profit increased to £64.4 million (H1 2025: £63.3 million) and underlying profit before tax increased to £20.5 million (H1 2025: £19.0 million), highlighting the strength of the Group's operating model.

Strategic and operational delivery driven by new pub formats

· 60 new pub format refurbishments completed, ahead of the initial target of at least 50 for the year. In total, 91 pubs have now been reformatted across FY2025 and FY2026.

· All new formats performing well, delivering average ROIC of 35% and like-for-like growth of approximately 20%, with formats enhancing guest experience, increasing spend per visit and accelerating digital adoption.²

·  Like-for-like sales for the half year were ahead of the market but down 0.5%.³

· Reputation score improved to 806 (H1 2025: 800), reflecting the continued strength of the customer proposition, benefits from formats investment and ongoing focus on guest experience.

· Digital transformation progressing well, with Order & Pay rollout improving service speed, guest satisfaction and average spend uplift of c.15%.⁴

· Demand-driving events strengthening customer proposition and includes the return of Luke Humphries' Cool Hand Cup and Trivial Pursuit: Win a Wedge, alongside new initiatives such as the Matilda partnership, supporting engagement and footfall.

Disciplined capital allocation

· Capital investment of £39.0 million (H1 2025: £31.0 million) with expansionary capex of £13.9 million (H1 2025: £2.5 million), reflecting formats rollout and the full-year expansionary programme being delivered in H1.

· Refurbishment costs remain around £260k per pub, with the low capex requirement highlighting the attractive, high-return nature of the investment.

· Recurring free cash outflow of £15.6 million (H1 2025: £5.9 million inflow), as expected and consistent with timing of expansionary capex programme, working capital and tax.

· Net debt excluding IFRS 16 lease liabilities of £857.7 million (H1 2025: £881.1 million) with leverage of 4.7x (H1 2025: 4.9x); on track to reduce towards around 4.0x by year end.

· NAV per share increased to £1.28 (H1 2025: £1.07), up 19.6% year-on-year and approximately 24% since FY2024 (£1.03), reflecting progress since the October 2024 Capital Markets Day.

Strong summer trading outlook, well positioned for H2

· The Group is well positioned for the important summer trading period, including the significant opportunity presented by the World Cup with all 91 newly invested sites now open and trading for the duration of H2.

· Like-for-like sales for the 31 weeks are down 1.5%, reflecting an extremely strong April last year.

· Continued investment in our new pub formats is driving improved returns with the Group actively evaluating an expanded rollout programme of c.100 sites for FY2027.

· Cost discipline expected to support continued margin progression with good visibility; energy costs well managed, with electricity hedged to the end of FY2026 and gas through FY2027.

· Remain on track to deliver >£50m recurring free cash flow target, supporting balance sheet strength; leverage on track to reduce to around 4.0x by year end.

· The Board remains confident in delivering full-year market expectations and in continuing to make progress against the targets set out at the Capital Markets Day.⁵

Justin Platt, CEO of Marston's PLC, commented:

"We have made excellent strategic progress in the first half, delivering a strong profit performance underpinned by further margin expansion. Our disciplined operating model continues to drive efficiencies across the business, while enabling our hardworking local pub teams to focus on delivering great experiences for our guests every day.

"Our pub investment strategy is performing particularly well, with 60 new pub formats launched during the year, significantly ahead of our original target. These new format pubs are proving incredibly popular with guests while delivering very attractive commercial returns.   

"Looking forward, we are very well positioned for the World Cup summer ahead and expect our pubs, especially our new Grandstand formats, to be in high demand. Against this backdrop, we are encouraged by the outlook for H2 and remain on track to deliver full‑year market expectations."

Results Call:

An analyst and investor presentation will be held on 12 May 2026 at 09:30am UK time. Participants need to register using this link: https://brrmedia.news/MARS_HY_26

A full playback of the presentation will be made available shortly after its conclusion on the Marston's Investor Relations website: https://www.marstonspubs.co.uk/investors/results-presentations/

Enquiries:

Investors

Marston's PLC

Justin Platt, CEO                                                                   Tel: 01902 907250

Stephen Hopson, CFO                                 

Matthew Lee, Investor Relations                                           [email protected]

Media

Marston's PLC

Giles Robinson, Director of Corporate Affairs                       [email protected]

Sodali & Co

Ben Foster                                                                            Tel: 020 7250 1446

Russ Lynch                                                                           [email protected]

Notes

1. Alternative Performance Measure. See note 15 of the financial statements for a reconciliation to GAAP.

2. LFL growth calculated by site since opening, or over the last 12 months where sites have been open longer than a year. Average ROIC of 35% based on 54 sites open for more than 3 months, calculated based on a projected 12-month EBITDA post-opening, including an allocation of central costs, compared to 12-month EBITDA pre-investment.

3. Source: HDI hospitality market data.

4. 15% spend uplift versus till transactions based on four-week period to 11 April 2026.

5. Company-compiled market forecasts for FY2026: underlying profit before tax of £78.7 million, with a range from £76.1 million to £83.2 million.

Notes to Editors

Marston's PLC, listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker MARS, is a leading UK hospitality business with an estate of more than 1,300 pubs nationally, comprising managed, partnership ('franchised') and tenanted and leased pubs. Marston's employs around 9,000 people.

More information is available at https://www.marstonspubs.co.uk/

H1 2026 Strategic and Operational Update

The Group has delivered a strong first half performance, with 7.9% underlying profit growth, continued margin progression and significant strategic progress. The rollout of differentiated new pub formats, alongside continued execution of the Group's market-leading pub operating model and digital initiatives, is driving improved returns and strengthening the customer proposition. These actions are increasingly evident in performance across the invested estate and position Marston's well to build further momentum into the second half.

Trading performance

Total revenue for the period was £422.7 million (H1 2025: £427.4 million). Revenue was impacted by the timing of investment activity, with temporary pub closures associated with the accelerated rollout of new pub formats impacting sales by £2.2 million. Outside of this, softer midweek demand was offset by stronger performance across peak occasions. Peak trading days, including Christmas and Easter, saw like-for-like sales growth of 5.3%, including a record Christmas Day, highlighting the strength of the Group's proposition in capturing demand during high-volume social occasions.

The Group delivered stable underlying EBITDA of £85.9 million (H1 2025: £85.9 million), with the EBITDA margin increasing by 20 basis points to 20.3% (H1 2025: 20.1%), reflecting strong cost control and operational execution. Underlying profit before tax increased to £20.5 million (H1 2025: £19.0 million). Overall, the Group delivered strong profit performance and margin progression, demonstrating the strength of its operating model and rigorous cost discipline.

New pub formats are delivering strong returns

The rollout of new pub formats remains central to the Group's strategy and is now delivering strong and increasingly visible results.

The programme has accelerated significantly in H1, with 60 refurbishments completed, ahead of the original full-year target of 50. This includes 31 Grandstand and 29 Two Door sites, taking the total number of new format pubs across FY2025 and FY2026 to 91. Delivery has been on time and on budget, with average capital investment of approximately £260k per pub.

The decision to complete the full-year programme in H1 reflects the strength of early returns and the opportunity to maximise the trading benefit within the financial year, particularly ahead of the important summer period and key events such as the World Cup.

Performance across the invested estate continues to be compelling and is driving post-conversion like-for-like revenue growth of 20%, alongside attractive returns with an average ROIC of 35% across the FY2025 and FY2026 investment programme (including all new format pubs open for more than three months at the period end).

Within this, our sports-led format Grandstand is delivering particularly strong results. Across the 10 sites that have been open for more than three months, we have seen material gains in local market share, like-for-like revenue growth is c.30%, the ROIC exceeds 40%, and EBITDA margins are significantly ahead of the Group average. These improvements are driven by increased visit frequency, higher spend per visit and strong appeal across target demographics. We intend to accelerate investment into this format moving forward and believe there is a material opportunity to expand the brand beyond its current footprint of 36 pubs.

More broadly, formats are enhancing the customer proposition and delivering strongly on other strategic growth drivers. Improvements in guest experience are supporting higher reputation scores than the estate as a whole, while digital adoption and Order & Pay penetration are increasing at a higher rate, contributing to higher spend and improved operational efficiency. The success of the programme reflects both the strength of the format propositions and a disciplined approach to capital allocation. The estate has been mapped against our five formats on a pub-by-pub basis, providing a clear runway for future conversions and supporting confidence in further rollout through FY2027.

Market-leading pub operating model

The Group continues to execute its market-leading pub operating model, which underpins strong margin performance and operational efficiency.

Cost discipline remains central to this model. Ongoing labour productivity initiatives, enabled by our data-led scheduling tool, continue to facilitate more efficient deployment of teams aligned to trading patterns at a local level, and have enabled the Group to fully offset the significant year-on-year increases in National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage. Alongside labour, procurement savings and ongoing efficiency programmes in areas such as reactive repairs continue to mitigate broader inflationary pressures, supporting tight control across all key cost lines.

Importantly, these efficiencies are delivered alongside continued focus on the customer proposition. Guest satisfaction continues to improve, with reputation scores increasing to 806 (H1 2025: 800), reflecting the benefits of format investment, operational execution and service delivery across the estate.

Taken together, this balanced approach to revenue, cost and guest experience reinforces Marston's position as a high-margin operator, with a disciplined and repeatable model supporting continued margin progression and future growth.

Digital transformation

Digital continues to play an increasingly important role across the estate, supporting revenue growth, improving operational efficiency and enhancing guest satisfaction, with Order & Pay representing the most visible component of this strategic value driver. Order & Pay is now well established and continuing to scale, with up to 15% of weekly transactions processed through the platform. Adoption is particularly strong across our new pub formats, where digital is embedded within the customer proposition and becoming a core part of the overall guest experience.

Digital transactions are also delivering a clear commercial benefit, with an average spend uplift of around 15% compared to till transactions, reflecting the effectiveness of in-journey prompts, upsell functionality and an increasingly intuitive customer journey.

Alongside revenue benefits, Order & Pay is improving service speed and convenience, while enabling teams to operate more efficiently, particularly during peak trading periods. Overall, the Group's digital capability continues to strengthen, supporting both the customer proposition and the efficiency of the operating model, and will remain a key enabler of future growth.

Outlook

The Group enters the second half with strong momentum, and the estate is ready to maximise the opportunity from the World Cup. Recent investment in our Grandstand format, now rolled out across 36 sites, is set to be a key driver of peak summer demand. Early performance reinforces our confidence in the format's ability to drive strong trading during major sporting and social occasions.

More broadly, our format conversions continue to build momentum, with the increased proportion of the estate operating under these formats supporting improved trading performance and returns through H2 and beyond. The Group is actively evaluating an expanded rollout programme of c.100 sites for FY2027.

Cost pressures remain manageable, and, despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, the Group expects to deliver further margin progression in H2, supported by continued cost discipline, efficiency initiatives and the benefits of its operating model. The Board remains confident in delivering full-year market expectations and continuing to execute against the strategy and targets set out at the October 2024 Capital Markets Day.

Financial Review

The Group's profitability has been transformed in recent years, and increased again in the first half, with underlying profit before tax 7.9% higher year-on-year at £20.5 million. Due to the strength of early returns, and the opportunity to maximise the benefit from the key summer trading period including the World Cup, H1 2026 saw an acceleration in our expansionary investment programme. In total, 60 sites were reformatted into our Grandstand and Two Door formats in the first half (H1 2025: 18 sites), and 91 sites now converted in total, delivering strong increases in sales and profits and enabling future growth. The closure periods associated with these conversions impacted revenue by £2.2 million and EBITDA by £2.0 million in the period (including pre-opening costs), however ongoing revenue management gains and cost efficiencies more than offset the impact from the closures and inflationary cost increases, resulting in a strong financial outcome in the first half.

Revenue

Revenue was £422.7 million (H1 2025: £427.4 million), 1.1% lower year-on-year. Total revenue in the Group's managed and partnership pubs for the 26-week period was £411.2 million (H1 2025: £415.1 million) and revenue in the tenanted and leased estate was £11.5 million (H1 2025: £12.3 million). Like-for-like sales within our managed and partnership pubs were 0.5% lower than H1 2025, reflecting softer off-peak trading, with strong peak demand and continued outperformance versus the market (Source: HDI hospitality market data). Our focus on revenue-driving activity, customer service and the contribution from new pub formats is expected to support improved like-for-like performance in the second half, alongside the benefit of the World Cup. Closure periods for the accelerated conversion programme are kept to a minimum (approximately three weeks per site), reducing net revenue by c.£2.2 million year-on-year. Encouragingly, post-conversion sales for our new pub formats were up 20% year-on-year.

Underlying EBITDA and operating profit

Marston's is a high margin operator, and underlying EBITDA was maintained at £85.9 million in the period (H1 2025: £85.9 million) despite a £2.0 million impact due to closure periods and pre-opening costs, as the Group accelerated its new pub format conversion programme. Substantial increases in the rate of the National Living Wage and National Insurance payments were, once again, fully offset with further labour scheduling efficiencies, and other inflationary headwinds in food, drink and energy costs were successfully managed. The Group's underlying EBITDA margin increased to 20.3% (H1 2025: 20.1%), and, excluding the impact of the accelerated conversion programme, the margin stepped forward 60 basis points to 20.7%.

As a result of the progress made this half, average EBITDA per pub increased slightly to £155k in the 12 months to H1 2026 (12 months to H1 2025: £152k). The Group has also seen a strong uplift in its invested estate, with EBITDA per pub increasing on average by 33% from £265k per pub to £354k per pub in the pre- to post-investment period, providing further confidence to the Group to further accelerate its investment programme, particularly into the Grandstand format.

Depreciation and amortisation costs of £21.5 million were down year-on-year (H1 2025: £22.6 million), due to reduced capital expenditure in previous years, and a greater proportion of current capital expenditure being classified as land and buildings.

Underlying operating profit increased by 1.7% to £64.4 million (H1 2025: £63.3 million). Underlying operating margins of 15.2% grew 40 basis points compared to the prior period (H1 2025: 14.8%). Statutory operating profit, including non-underlying items (see below), was £63.4 million (H1 2025: £61.3 million).

The Group has good cost visibility moving into the second half of the year over key input costs, including food, drink and energy, with all material items secured for the remainder of the financial year. Energy costs are well managed, with electricity hedged to the end of FY2026 and gas to the end of FY2027, limiting exposure to short-term volatility.

Net finance costs

Underlying net finance costs were £43.9 million, lower than the prior period (H1 2025: £44.3 million) as a result of the continued deleveraging of the Group year-on-year. Please see the Debt and financing section below for a breakdown of the components of net debt.

Underlying net finance costs include £16.3 million relating to the Group's securitised debt (H1 2025: £17.8 million), £6.7 million relating to bank borrowings and facilities (H1 2025: £5.8 million), £11.8 million relating to other lease related borrowings (H1 2025: £11.6 million), a £9.3 million expense relating to IFRS 16 lease liabilities (H1 2025: £9.5 million), and a credit of £0.2 million of other items (H1 2025: credit of £0.4 million). There was a non-underlying credit of £3.8 million relating to movements in the value of the Group's interest rate swaps (H1 2025: credit of £2.5 million).

Profit before tax

As a result of a £1.1 million increase in underlying operating profit and a £0.4 million decrease in underlying net finance costs, underlying profit before tax increased year-on-year by £1.5 million, or 7.9%, to £20.5 million (H1 2025: £19.0 million). Statutory profit before tax was £23.3 million (H1 2025: £19.5 million), including a net non-underlying profit of £2.8 million, the details of which are set out below.

Non-underlying items

There was a net non-underlying profit of £2.8 million before tax. This included a net gain of £3.8 million in respect of interest rate swap movements partially offset by £1.0 million of reorganisation, restructuring and relocation costs.

In the prior period, there was a net non-underlying profit of £0.5 million before tax, consisting of a net gain of £2.5 million in respect of interest rate swap movements partially offset by £2.0 million of reorganisation, restructuring and relocation costs.

Taxation

The underlying tax charge was £5.3 million (H1 2025: £5.1 million), with an underlying effective tax rate of 25.9% (H1 2025: 26.8%). The effective rate is slightly higher than the standard rate of corporation tax primarily due to the impact of disallowed depreciation on non-qualifying assets. We expect the underlying effective tax rate to be approximately in line with the standard rate of corporation tax in future years.

Tax on non-underlying items was a charge of £0.7 million (H1 2025: £0.1 million).

The statutory tax charge was £6.0 million (H1 2025: £5.2 million) on statutory profit before tax of £23.3 million (H1 2025: £19.5 million), with an effective tax rate of 25.8% (H1 2025: 26.7%).

Profit after tax and earnings per share

The statutory profit after tax was £17.3 million, compared to £14.3 million in the prior period.

Basic underlying earnings per share increased to 2.4 pence per share (H1 2025: 2.2 pence per share). Statutory basic earnings per share were 2.7 pence (H1 2025: 2.3 pence).

Capital expenditure

Our capital expenditure strategy was set out at the Capital Markets Day in October 2024, with a near-term target spend of 7-8% of revenue, including projects to enhance the estate through differentiated formats. As a result of the excellent performance of these new formats, we accelerated the programme and completed a further 60 new format conversions during the period, bringing the cumulative total of new format conversions to 91 sites, and completing the plan for the financial year within the first half to maximise the value generation potential in-year. All 60 conversions were completed on time and on budget, with an average closure period of just 3 weeks.

Total capital expenditure was £39.0 million (H1 2025: £31.0 million), representing 9.2% of revenue (H1 2025: 7.3% of revenue). Of the total expenditure, £13.9 million was spent on the 60 format conversions, including 31 Grandstand and 29 Two Door formats. Since re-opening, these conversions have delivered sales uplifts of 20% with EBITDA returns on investment of 35% in trading to-date. In addition, we continued to invest in maintaining our core business and in our IT platforms. Over the full year, we expect total capital expenditure to remain within the target range of 7-8% of revenue.

Property and disposals

The carrying value of the estate is £2.2 billion (H1 2025: £2.1 billion) and 82% of the pubs are effective freeholds.

During the current period, the Group generated £1.1 million in net proceeds from non-core pub and other asset disposals (H1 2025: £4.5 million), with profit on disposals of £0.6 million.

The Group finished the period with 1,325 pubs (H1 2025: 1,333 pubs), of which 1,188 were operating under the managed or partnership models (H1 2025: 1,182) and 137 were operating under the tenanted and leased models (H1 2025: 151 pubs).

Pensions

The balance on our defined benefit scheme was a £18.3 million surplus as at 28 March 2026 (H1 2025: £20.5 million surplus, FY2025: £15.4 million surplus). The Group will continue to pay the administrative fees associated with the scheme but is currently making no other contributions.

Net asset value

The table below shows the main movements in net asset value:

* 'Cash' in this table refers to cash and cash equivalents, together with other cash deposits.

Net assets increased to £812.9 million (H1 2025: £678.4 million, FY2025: £790.7 million), with a net asset value per share of £1.28 (H1 2025: £1.07, FY2025: £1.25). The changes in net asset value year-on-year were primarily driven by an increase in property, plant and equipment as a result of the July 2025 property revaluation and the capital investment made in the business, partially offset by depreciation, and an overall decrease in borrowings net of cash due to the positive progress made in generating free cash flow, partially offset by an increase in capital expenditure, cash tax payments and working capital timing movements. The increase in liabilities is mainly due to an increase in deferred tax liabilities, primarily as a result of the property revaluation gain, partially offset by a reduction in the valuation of the Group's interest rate swaps.

Cash flow

A summary of the Group's cash flow is given below:        

There was a net cash inflow from operating activities of £67.7 million (H1 2025: £81.4 million). Within this, there was a working capital outflow of £9.3 million (H1 2025: £3.0 million outflow) due to the seasonality of the business and a number of one-off items; this is expected to reverse over the second half of the year and the working capital movement for the full year is expected to be a slight inflow. Payments in relation to the administration of the defined benefit pension scheme were £1.1 million (H1 2025: £0.7 million); the Group is currently making no other contributions to the scheme. Cash tax payments were £7.1 million (H1 2025: £nil), comprising two quarterly payments in respect of FY2025 under the 'large company' regime and two quarterly payments relating to FY2026 under the 'very large company' regime. The Group expects to make two further cash tax payments in the second half of the year in relation to FY2026 and, from FY2027, cash tax payments are expected to normalise to four quarterly cash tax payments each year.

Net interest costs including finance lease capital repayments received were £43.5 million (H1 2025: £42.8 million) and capital expenditure was £39.0 million (H1 2025: £31.0 million). Capital expenditure is expected to be lower in the second half, given that all 60 new pub format refurbishments were completed in H1. After bank fees and the purchase of and sales proceeds from own shares, recurring free cash flow was an outflow of £15.6 million (H1 2025: £5.9 million inflow).

Taking into account disposals proceeds received of £1.1 million (H1 2025: £4.5 million) and cash outflows in relation to the disposal of the Group's remaining 40% interest in CMBC of £2.8 million in the prior period, the net cash outflow for the period was £14.5 million (H1 2025: £7.6 million inflow).

Mandatory securitised loan note repayments of £22.8 million (H1 2025: £21.5 million), net repayments of the capital element of lease liabilities relating to IFRS 16 of £4.9 million (H1 2025: £4.3 million) and other debt advances of £35.0 million (H1 2025: £5.0 million) resulted in an overall decrease in cash and cash equivalents of £7.2 million (H1 2025: decrease of £13.2 million).

We expect to deliver the full-year CMD target of recurring free cash flow of over £50 million, with cash generation weighted to H2 due to higher EBITDA from natural seasonality of the business, lower outflows expected for capital expenditure and cash tax, and a working capital inflow for the year as a whole.

Debt and financing

Net debt, excluding IFRS 16 lease liabilities, was £857.7 million (H1 2025: £881.1 million), a reduction of £23.4 million year-on-year. Including IFRS 16 lease liabilities of £371.1 million (H1 2025: £371.3 million), total net debt was £1,228.8 million (H1 2025: £1,252.4 million).

The Group has continued to make progress in net debt reduction during the last twelve months; with net debt to EBITDA excluding IFRS 16 falling from 4.9x as at H1 2025 to 4.7x at the period end. Leverage including IFRS 16 reduced from 6.2x to 6.0x. Due to the seasonality of cash generation within the business, net debt tends to be higher at the half year than the full year, and we expect to continue the positive trend for the full year.

The Group's financing, providing an appropriate level of flexibility and liquidity for the medium term, comprises:

The securitisation debt is long-term loan notes issued in 2005 and 2007, secured on ring-fenced properties. All floating rate notes are economically hedged in full by the Group using interest rate swaps. The weighted average fixed interest rate payable by the Group on its securitised debt as at 28 March 2026 was 6.4%. The terms of the securitisation require a liquidity facility to be in place, of which £nil was drawn at the period end. 

'Other lease related borrowings' is debt recognised against properties subject to sale and leaseback arrangements with repurchase options available to the Group at nominal value. Caps and collars are in place to limit the index-linked increases in interest costs.

During the period, the Group successfully secured a one-year extension to its banking facility. The revised bank facility to July 2028 is for £200.0 million, of which £56.0 million was drawn at the period end.

IFRS 16 lease liabilities are obligations from leases including sale and leaseback arrangements that completed without an option to repurchase the asset at nominal value.

The Group holds three interest swaps in relation to its borrowing facilities with a net accounting valuation of £(46.9) million as at the period end (H1 2025: £(51.2) million), which are excluded from net debt.

The vast majority of our borrowings are long-dated and asset-backed, including the securitisation debt. The loan to value of securitised net debt, which is decreasing year-on-year, is currently 39% (H1 2025: 45%), and the loan to value of net debt excluding lease liabilities is 45% (H1 2025: 50%).

In summary, we have adequate cash headroom in our financing structures to provide operational flexibility. Importantly, all of our medium to long-term financing is hedged or contains caps and collars, thereby minimising any exposure to interest rate movements.

Capital allocation and shareholder returns

As set out at our CMD, our capital allocation framework is focused on enhancing long-term shareholder value through a disciplined balance of delivering strong returns on investment and deleveraging. Deleveraging has continued and net debt to EBITDA before IFRS 16 has fallen year-on-year from 4.9x as at H1 2025 to 4.7x at this period end. However, leverage remains higher than target and, as such, no interim dividend will be paid in respect of FY2026.

We remain on track in delivering against our leverage reduction targets and will provide an update at the FY2026 Preliminary Results.

Going concern

Having considered the Group's forecast financial position and exposure to principal risks and uncertainties, including cost and inflationary pressures, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue to operate within its borrowing facilities and covenants for a period of at least 12 months from the date of signing the financial statements. Accordingly, the financial statements have been prepared on the going concern basis. Full details are included in note 1 of the financial statements.

Key estimates and significant judgements

Under IFRS the Group is required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the application of policies and

reported amounts. Details are provided in note 1 of the financial statements.

Notes:

· Prior period was a 26-week period to 29 March 2025.

· The Group uses a number of alternative performance measures (APMs) to enable management and users of the financial statements to better understand elements of financial performance in the period. APMs are explained and reconciled in note 15 to the interim financial statements.

Responsibility Statement of the Directors in respect of the Interim Results

The Directors confirm, to the best of their knowledge, that these condensed consolidated interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with UK-adopted IAS 34 'Interim Financial Reporting', give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Group, and that the interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7R and DTR 4.2.8R of the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority, namely:

· an indication of important events that have occurred during the first six months of the financial year and their impact on the condensed set of financial statements, and a description of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the financial year; and

· material related party transactions in the first six months of the financial year and any material changes in the related party transactions described in the last Annual Report and Accounts.

The Directors of Marston's PLC are listed in the Marston's PLC Annual Report and Accounts for 27 September 2025.  A list of current Directors is maintained on the Marston's PLC website: www.marstonspubs.co.uk.

By order of the Board:

Justin Platt                                            Stephen Hopson

Chief Executive Officer                         Chief Financial Officer

12 May 2026                                         12 May 2026