Official: Scottish & Newcastle Retail is no more
It's official: Scottish & Newcastle Retail (S&NR) no longer exists.
Spirit Group's deal to buy the 1,450 managed pubs was rubber-stamped by Scottish & Newcastle shareholders yesterday, voting 99.7 per cent in favour of the sale.
Spirit chief executive Karen Jones will now take charge of the newly created, 2,600-strong, Spirit Amber.
The massive £2.51bn acquisition is the biggest pub deal since Whitbread sold 3,000 pubs to Ian Payne's Laurel Pub Company in March 2001.
Spirit will now press on will the integration of S&NR brands such as Chef & Brewer, Henry's and John Barras into its own estate.
Existing Spirit brands include Q's, Two For One and Bar Room Bar.
Ms Jones will speak for the first time of the challenges facing her as the boss of Britain's biggest managed pub company at this year's Publican Conference on November 13.
Related articles:
S&N Retail board set to quit after Spirit takeover (24 October 2003)
S&N chairman announces resignation (10 October 2003)
Spirit wins £2.5bn S&N pub auction (6 October 2003)
