Punch ups tenant support as beer volumes drop 12%
A total of 1,200 Punch licensees are currently receiving special support from the company at a cost of £1.6m a month.
Punch chief executive Giles Thorley revealed that beer volumes in the tenanted estate were down in like-for-like terms by a mighty 12% — believed to be the highest volume decline yet revealed by a major tenanted pub company.
Thorley said there had been no discernible increase in tenants and lessees returning their keys in the New Year.
The cost of supporting licensees was slightly up on the last indication given by the company at results in November.
"It's up a bit but not a lot higher than when we last spoke," Thorley told analysts.
The Punch boss said that the company had beefed-up its "prediction analysis" in the leased estate last year to anticipate when tenant might be getting into trouble.
Business relationship managers and their regional directors had also been given more autonomy to support licensees where necessary. These support initiatives were helpng to mitigate the impact of tough trading on the tenanted estate, said Thorley.
The disposal of unwanted pubs is proceeding well with proceeds of £30m so far, with the company likely to exceed its £50m target figure.
"There's good demand for individual sites and good demand from licensees (for the 500 pubs being offered to them)," said Thorley.
