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Marston’s has said it expects pub refurbishments and the Fifa World Cup to help drive stronger sales after they stalled over the past six months.

The Wolverhampton-based pub giant saw shares slide as a result, dropping to their lowest level for almost six months.

Boss Justin Platt nevertheless said that the group is “well positioned” and made strong progress over the period.

The company, which runs more than 1,300 pubs across the UK, revealed that total revenues dipped by 1.1% to £422.7 million for the 26 weeks to March 28, compared with the same period a year earlier.

It said revenues were impacted by the timing of investment activity, with temporary pub closures linked to refurbishment work impacting sales by around £2.2 million.

Meanwhile, it also revealed “softer midweek demand” but said this was offset by positive sales over peak trading periods.

Marston’s is currently driving investment into updating dozens of its pubs, with 60 refurbishments completed so far this year, surpassing previous targets.

This includes reformatting 31 of its pubs into its new Grandstand sport-focussed format.

It said these venues are “delivering particularly strong results” and indicated that these are expected to perform particularly well around the World Cup.

Mr Platt told the Press Association that the World Cup could help support sales in the coming months.

“We think the World Cup is going to be a big driver,” the chief executive said.

“We will be showing the games in a massive percentage of our pubs and with an extra round this year, it should be really positive.

“Kick-off times could also work well this year, as our peak times are typically between 6pm and 8pm, so the later kick-offs could be really beneficial.”