It’s all cheers at Shepherd Neame, the 300-year old brewer and pub owner, after hiking sales and profit.

The Faversham company hiked sales by nearly 10% to a record £133m, and pre-tax profit jumped almost 40% to £9.1m.

Despite a national trend of falling beer sales, Sheps’ total beer volumes soared by 5.6% to record levels. Spifire ale and Asahi Super Dry, the Japanese beer brewed under licence, did particularly well.

Like for like managed pub sales rose 7.6%, with liquor up 6.2%, food up 10.9% and accommodation up 7%. Tenanted pubs returned to growth, edging up on average by 2.7%.

Jonathan Neame, chief executive, said: “This has been another successful year for the company. Our beer, food and accommodation sales have all enjoyed strong growth for the second year in a row and the tenanted estate performance has been encouraging.

Our strategy to invest in our pubs and brands during the economic downturn has strengthened the company, improved its competitive position and enhanced our reputation with consumers.

Recent pub acquisitions have been successful and this has enabled us to take another step forward this year with some further excellent purchases, which provides a good platform for the future.”

Shepherd Neame acquired seven quality pubs and hotels during the year. Since the year end it bought the Royal Wells Hotel, Tunbridge Wells.

Shepherd Neame approved a final dividend per £1 share of 19.6p (2011: 19.0p). Total dividend per £1 share of 24.5p (2011: 23.8p)