Marston's annual profit falls on lower food sales

(Reuters) - Pub operator Marston's Plc <MARS.L> reported a fall in full-year underlying pretax profit on Wednesday, hurt by lower food sales, rising costs and sluggish consumer spending.

The company, which has sped up the disposal of its pubs to cut debt, said pretax profit fell to 101 million pounds ($129.58 million) for the year ended Sept. 28, from 104 million pounds a year earlier.

"We are making good progress with our debt reduction plans and are ahead of schedule in meeting the accelerated 70 million pounds of disposal proceeds which we are targeting in the current year," Chief Executive Officer Ralph Findlay said.

(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)