Good weather in south east England during the summer has helped pub company Fuller, Smith and Turner to boost pre-tax profits by more than a quarter during the 26 weeks ending 26 September 2009.

Compared with the same period last year, the London-based company reported a 2.8 per cent increase in like-for-like sales at its managed pub and hotels business, helped by low interest rates and incremental earnings from acquisitions. Fuller's has now expanded its estate of managed properties to 489 sites, including seven pubs acquired from Punch Taverns during the period, as well as a further three from Mitchells and Butlers in February 2009.

Michael Turner, Fuller's chair, said: "In defiance of the recession, we have grown profits through an excellent performance of the core business, further boosted by the incremental contribution of acquired pubs together with reduced costs of borrowing. "We remain cautious about the outlook for the UK economy and we expect our second half to be significantly tougher than the first. Starting with VAT rising by 2.5 per cent on 1 January 2010, taxes and interest rates must rise and the economic climate is likely to remain challenging for some considerable time."