London, July 16 - British pubs and restaurants group Mitchells & Butlers said on Thursday it expects profits for the year to be in line with consensus market expectations following robust sales in the third quarter.
The group, which owns the All Bar One and Harvester chains and has about 2,000 pubs, said like-for-like sales up 1.7 percent in the 8 weeks to July 11.
M&B, whose brands also include O'Neills, Ember Inns, and Toby Carvery, said same outlet drink sales were up 3.2 percent during the period with food sales rising 2 percent.
The consensus forecast for underlying pretax profit stands at 122 million pounds ($200 million), according to a Reuters Estimates poll of 18 analysts.
($1=.6100 Pound)