One man's business genius is another's asset stripper, it would seem

Last week's news that Marston's had bought EP - formerly Eldridge Pope - came as these here pages were already winging their way to our printers. While I wasn't surprised that Michael Cannon, whose Nouveaustar vehicle owned the Dorchester pub group, had cashed in his chips I'll admit to being slightly taken aback by the timing of the deal.

Cannon's reputation for taking on ailing pub businesses, turning them round and selling for a chunky profit is legendary, and few expected EP to be in his hands for long. But a tad over two years is, by my reckoning, a record even for the man who has cut a swathe through the industry in the past three decades.

Some label Cannon and his ilk as little more than asset strippers, eager to buy cheap, build up and sell on, whatever the cost to the wider stakeholders.

Others argue the Cannons of this world provide a valuable service in weeding out the weak spots of a declining business and setting it on the road to recovery. And if he makes a couple of hundred million quid in so doing, well, that's a price worth paying.

Whatever one's view, it's quite possible that tradition, sentimentality and (sharp intake of breath) heritage have no place in the modern pub business. That, however, is a debate for another day.

In my column last week I commented on Ultimate Leisure's proposed £25m share issue. I said the group's majority shareholders - the Reuben brothers and Dawnay Day - would be required to buy up Ultimate's shares if shareholders voted against a whitewash waiver at a forthcoming EGM. The group's brokers, Oriel Securities, have pointed out that this would not be the case, instead if the whitewash vote were to go against Ultimate the share issue would simply not take place - and Ultimate would miss out on £25m, presumably.