Last year’s long hot summer and a sunny spring helped beer and pub company Shepherd Neame to a “good year”, its latest annual results show.

The oldest brewer in Britain, founded in 1698, increased underlying pre-tax profits by 8% to £11.2 million and boosted revenues by 12% to £156.2 million.

The Faversham-based beer maker said this had been helped by spending £10.7 million on renovating its pubs, as well as the acquisition of 14 pubs throughout the year.

Its has rewarded shareholders with a 3% boost to their dividend to 28.35p.

The firm sold 259,000 brewers’ barrels of beer in the year to June 24, equivalent to 74.5 million pints.

The majority of these sales were made in the UK although the company also exports to more than 35 countries.

The business has a total of 327 pubs, down one on last year, and bosses said the firm is in a good position to weather economic headwinds from Brexit and rising inflation.

Chairman Miles Templeton said: “Whilst the performance has been good, the short-term horizon is clouded by the inflationary pressures on the business, and the medium-term horizon by the uncertainty over the UK’s exit from the European Union.

"Shepherd Neame is, as has been demonstrated over the years, a resilient and flexible business capable of rapidly adjusting to and succeeding in an ever changing world.”

Pre-tax profits were down 18% to £11.8 million after last year’s figure was boosted by the sale of land for property development.

Like-for-like sales in its managed pubs grew 8%. Its tenanted pubs increased earnings before interest, taxes and other charges by 1.6%.

Chief executive Jonathan Neame said: “This has been a good year for the company with strong underlying performance and some great acquisitions that add real value to the company.

“We are pleased with the strategic and operational progress made in all areas of our business.

“We are mindful of the political and economic backdrop, but our strategic focus on investing for the long term, innovating and consistently delivering great pub environments and outstanding service for our customers will stand us in good stead.

“We remain confident that the actions that have been taken and our relentless pursuit of excellence will continue to deliver good long-term returns for our shareholders.”