Fuller's pins hopes on London Olympics Fuller, Smith & Turner, the pub chain and brewer, said business from the London 2012 Olympics would help it to shrug off wider economic uncertainty in a sector which has seen a spate of pub closures across the country over the past year. Highlighting the completion of 14 deals in its financial year, Michael Turner, chairman, said the group had "good momentum going into the summer of sport." Fuller's £53.9m approach for the Capital Pub Company this year was foiled by rival Greene King's offer to pay £70m in cash for the 34 mainly London-based pubs. However, Fuller said a £16m acquisition of five pubs, including the Lamb and Flag in Covent Garden from Marston's, and refurbishments at some of its hotels including The Crown Inn and The White Swan Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon would help to temper a cautious outlook in 2012. The company runs 150 pubs within London, including the Coach and Horses, the central London haunt of Private Eye staff. In a trading statement Fuller's said over 40 of its 366 managed pubs had record weeks over the Christmas trading period. Like-for-like sales in its pubs and hotels division rose by 5.1 per cent in the nine weeks to January 21, boosting sales by 4.1 per cent for the 42 weeks of its financial year to date. Volumes in its beer business, based at its Griffin Brewery, in Chiswick, west London, rose by one per cent over the same period, with exports of its London Porter, London Pride and ESB beers strong. The company said net debt rose by £16.9m to £109.4m after acquisitions and a £5.1m share buy-back in the third quarter. Analysts at Peel Hunt said the group had an "enviably strong" balance sheet. Shares, which have risen almost 15 per cent over the past year, remained unchanged at 210p on Friday morning.