Even in this market, people are still buying

According to a new Plimsoll Publishing survey there's never been a better time for pub companies to snap up rival businesses. The group's 'Acquisition Study' has found that the UK licensed industry is, and I quote, "awash with cash".

Companies, it says, should use the current environment to "go on the offensive" and buy up the 241 "powerful players" in the market who would make good strategic acquisitions.

Sadly for you and I Plimsoll refrains from naming them, but the point is made - that now is a great time to avail oneself of a changing landscape.

In the current circumstances such advice surely flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Surelt now money, as Mick Hucknell once famously said, is too tight to mention.

Then again, those swimming against the tide of conventional wisdom get noticed more than those who go with the flow. And so it is here.

Majority opinion argues that most corporate activity has ground to a halt, at least for the time being. Of course, deals will still be done. Specialist investment firm Agilo is one of a number of investors bullish about the market's prospects. And more established operators will pick up the odd acquisition here and there.

Yet the scale of activity is unlikely to be anywhere near that seen in recent years; the markets are simply too fragile to support it.

The sector's current troubles do not worry everyone, however. Those who argue that the pubcos' buying clout is an abuse of power and their business model ultimately unsustainable eagerly anticipate the demise of the large operator. Recent stock exchange setbacks merely lend weight to their argument that everything is about to go bottom up.

It is too early to argue this with any conviction. But there is no doubt that corporate nerves will be sorely tested in the coming months…