Crossed fingers and low profiles
30-Mar-2009 By Hamish Champ
Late March is traditionally a quiet time on the corporate front. Most companies have done with reporting their half-year numbers and are content to...
Punch Taverns tight-lipped over pub 'firesale'
13-Mar-2009 By Hamish Champ
Punch Taverns was remaining tight-lipped this week as speculation grew that it was looking to sell off a number of its best performing pubs in order...
John Porter: Steak and kidney tie?
10-Mar-2009
Punch Taverns is offering some of its licensees a food menu, aimed at helping them compete with the large number of discounts deals on food currently...
Adnams buys three pubs from Punch Taverns for £2.7m
06-Mar-2009
Adnams has bought three prime pub sites in Suffolk from Punch Taverns for £2.7m. The Suffolk based brewer's purchase includes the Maybush at...
'Punch case thrown out of court'
25-Feb-2009
The pub company, Punch Taverns, has fought off an application by a disgruntled supplier to have it wound up after a judge threw out the case,...
'Punch Taverns in Hall of Shame'
24-Feb-2009
Pub group Punch Taverns, media firm Trinity Mirror and mining giant Xstrata have been named in a "hall of shame" by a specialist financial...
Fund launched to help campaigning licensee
17-Feb-2009
A campaigning licensee has spoken of her gratitude after discovering that a fund has been set up to help her avoid bankruptcy.Inez Ward, founder of...
Punch Taverns commits to RPI-related rent decrease
13-Feb-2009 By Hamish Champ
Punch Taverns has guaranteed it will match any move by the retail prices index (RPI) into negative territory with a reduction in rent for its...
Punch Taverns drops bonus points scheme
12-Feb-2009
Punch Taverns has been accused of "penny pinching" after abandoning a bonus points scheme in its annual promotional catalogue.Licensees are up in...
The good, the bad and the rather unattractive
09-Feb-2009 By Hamish Champ
It seems no-one has a good word to say about the big pubcos at the moment, if indeed they ever did. Inflexible, interfering, bullying, unreliable -...
06-Feb-2009 By Ewan Turney
Punch Taverns has denied that photos from a social networking site were used to shut one of its pubs on the grounds of underage drinking. Police said...
30-Jan-2009 By John Harrington
Punch Taverns is creating a new division to help its struggling pubs as part of a restructuring of its leased estate, which will mean fewer regional operation directors.
Punch Taverns ring-fences troubled pubs
30-Jan-2009 By Hamish Champ
Punch Taverns is set to create a separate division to oversee the most economically challenged pubs across its estate.As well as the creation of the...
26-Jan-2009 By Ewan Turney
Frustrated licensees will today protest outside the headquarters of Britain's two biggest pubcos — Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns — and call...
Hundreds to protest at pubcos
26-Jan-2009
Hundreds of licensees are expected to protest at the headquarters of Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns about the problems posed by the beer tie...
Protestors make their point at Punch
26-Jan-2009
Punch Taverns has defended the pubco model on the day that licensees staged a demonstration on the company's doorstep. Licensees from across the...
Licensee fears over pubco rent deposits
22-Jan-2009 By James Wilmore
Pubco licensees have raised concerns about the security of their rent deposits - which run into the thousands of pounds - if their landlords were to...
Punch suffers body blows in a week to forget
19-Jan-2009 By Hamish Champ
Punch Taverns' numbers were worse than many were expecting, (see below) to the extent that at one stage its shares sank more than 22 per cent on the...
19-Jan-2009 By Ewan Turney
Punch Taverns will welcome any of its lessees attending the protest outside its HQ next week in for a coffee and a chat. Frustrated licensees are...
Sceptre Leisure bullish about gaming future
15-Jan-2009 By Hamish Champ
Sceptre Leisure, which claims to be the UK's second largest supplier of amusement and gaming machines, has reported turnover trebling for the six...
Punch Taverns to make up to 100 head office staff redundant
14-Jan-2009 By Hamish Champ
Punch Taverns is to make up to 100 head office staff redundant as part of a cost cutting programme.The UK's largest pub operator is set to start...
Punch Taverns sees leased pub profits fall 12 per cent
14-Jan-2009 By Hamish Champ
Profits across Punch Taverns' leased and tenanted pub estate have slumped 12 per cent in recent months, despite "improved trading" over Christmas.The...
2008 - A Year To Forget?
10-Jan-2009 By Hamish Champ
Few in the pub and brewing sectors will forget 2008. Rising beer duty, higher energy bills and an economy headed for the U-bend merely fuelled what...
09-Jan-2009 By Ewan Turney
Frustrated licensees are planning a protest march to highlight the plight of tenants outside the headquarters of Britain's two biggest pubcos —...
22-Dec-2008 By Gemma McKenna
Punch Taverns new customer training package will incentivise trainees, who can get almost 50% of their money back, based on their success. Punch's...
17-Dec-2008 By The PMA Team
Punch Taverns is likely to see a number of leased pubs revert in the wake of the administration of Orchid Pub Company. There are 48 pubs currently in...
12-Dec-2008 By The PMA Team
2008 turned out to be a tougher year than many expected. The PMA Team looks back on the themes that emerged during the year. Toxic leases and the...
Punch Taverns slides - and recovers - after negative City comment
11-Dec-2008 By Hamish Champ
Shares in Punch Taverns recovered today after a piece of negative City research sent the company's stock tumbling by more than 20 per cent.The...
Pubco shares on the slide again
01-Dec-2008 By Hamish Champ
Shares in a number of leading pub companies dipped sharply today after broker Morgan Stanley published a pessimistic note on the sector.Mitchells...
Good news anyone?
27-Oct-2008 By Hamish Champ
Another week, another set of depressing economic surveys. I know I contribute to the increasing sense of gloom, doom and despondency by repeating the...
21-Oct-2008 By John Harrington
Deborah Kemp, managing director of Punch Taverns' leased estate, is to leave the business — her replacement will be former Thresher Group boss Roger Whiteside.
UK economic outlook has "deteriorated dramatically
20-Oct-2008 By Hamish Champ
The economic outlook for the UK has "deteriorated dramatically" over the last three months, according to new research published today.The quarterly...
07-Oct-2008 By Ewan Turney
Punch Taverns is to hold a series of ten roadshows designed to offer valuable business tips to licensees. Drinks and food suppliers will be on hand...
Selling the industry short
06-Oct-2008 By Hamish Champ
What a difference 12 months can make. A year ago next week, shares in Punch Taverns were trading at 11 quid, those of Enterprise Inns at nearly...
Pubcos send out foreign satellite warning
02-Oct-2008 By James Wilmore
Major companies are advising licensees not to use foreign satellite equipment until a definitive ruling on the issue is made in the European Court of...
Punch Taverns offers to buy back chunk of securitised bond
01-Oct-2008 By Hamish Champ
Punch Taverns is today offering to buy back a chunk of its 'A' securitisation bond vehicle as a way of freeing up cash for the business.The...
01-Oct-2008 By Mark Stretton, M&C Report
Shares in Punch Taverns have this morning jumped 30% after it announced plans to repay a tranch of debt to some of its bondholders.
01-Oct-2008 By The PMA Team
A move by Punch Taverns to repay a tranch of debt to some of its bondholders "may have been misunderstood" by the stock market.
Punch Taverns' shares slide as pubco denies letting issue
29-Sep-2008 By Hamish Champ
Shares in Punch Taverns continued to slide today after weekend press reports suggested a fifth of the pubco's outlets were awaiting tenants.After...
Pub unaware of sale
18-Sep-2008
A licensee was shocked to read a newspaper article stating her pub had been sold and was due to be converted into a synagogue. Ellen McLean, manager...
Rays of sunshine or flights of fancy?
13-Sep-2008 By Hamish Champ
For the country's more cynical pubco watchers, Enterprise Inns' demotion from the FTSE100 share index last week probably came as a ray of sunshine...
All Tye'd Up
13-Sep-2008 By Hamish Champ
Few executives like to see their best laid plans splashed all over the media within hours of being confidentially announced to members of staff. Nor...
'Punch Taverns chief adds to pressure on Alistair Darling'
04-Sep-2008 By James Wilmore
Giles Thorley, chief executive of Punch Taverns, has backed calls for Chancellor Alistair Darling to resign. "This week we've had [Darling's] worst...
Punch boss wants "quick and decisive" BEC review
03-Sep-2008 By Matt Eley Matt
Punch Taverns owns 7,560 pubs across the country. The vast majority of licensees running those pubs are 'tied' to the pubco. Here leased division...
Pub stocks tumble after Punch's dividend cut
03-Sep-2008 By Hamish Champ
Shares in listed pub companies lost all of the gains they made yesterday - and then some - after Punch Taverns announced it was freezing its final...
Greene King 'on track' despite tough trading conditions
02-Sep-2008 By Hamish Champ
Suffolk brewer Greene King is set to deliver a relatively upbeat message to shareholders at the group's annual general meeting today.While...
Pubco bosses defend the beer tie
02-Sep-2008 By Matt Eley Matt
Pubco bosses have launched a staunch defence of the beer tie in the first in a new series of Publican Special Reports. In two in-depth interviews,...
Cains licensees reveal distress of losing jobs
29-Aug-2008 By James Wilmore
Distraught ex-Cains licensees have told of their misery at losing their jobs and homes following the high-profile collapse of the company.Twenty-four...
28-Aug-2008 By The PMA Team
Punch Taverns has officially launched the latest batch of 50 pubs it is converted from managed to lease through agent Christie & Co. The pubs,...
Punch licensees given online help
26-Aug-2008 By Matt Eley Matt
Punch Taverns is attempting to help licensees drive trade at its 8,400 pubs by revamping the website it provides for them. The site has had a name...
