6th Sep 2007 07:01
Punch Taverns PLC06 September 2007 Punch Taverns plc Pre-Close Trading Statement Punch Taverns completed its 52 week financial year on 18 August 2007 and expectsto announce full year results on Thursday 8 November 2007. Trading during the year has been in line with Board expectations with theexception of a period during early summer when unprecedented poor weather andflooding affected the trading opportunity for many pubs. Whilst trading levelshave returned to normal, this unseasonal weather impacted results and we nowanticipate pre-tax profits for the full year to be around 2-3 percent less thanprevious Board expectations. The leased business, which comprised 7,561 pubs at the year end, continues toperform well with like for like profits up 2.7% across the year. The quality ofthe estate was significantly improved by the conversion of 637 former managedpubs from the Spirit estate, the acquisition of 85 individual pubs, and thedisposal of 933 pubs in the year of which 869 were sold to Admiral Taverns inMay 2007. Consequently, the average profitability of leased pubs in our estateincreased by over 10% during the year. Our managed estate, acquired with the acquisition of Spirit Group in January2006 and added to this financial year with the acquisition of Mill House Inns inSeptember 2006, comprised 887 pubs at the year end and has also performed well.Sales in the like for like core managed estate increased by 3.5% across theyear. The disposal and lease conversion programmes are now complete and anyfurther estate changes will take place through the normal course of business, sothat the remaining high quality Spirit business is fully focused in its keyoperating divisions. The smoking ban is now in place across the whole of our estate, having beenintroduced in England on 1 July. No significant impact has been detected sofar. The ban has been in existence in Scotland for over a year and has beenaccepted very rapidly by our customers without major disruption to our trade. We were pleased to complete a significant restructure of our debt in July 2007.This eliminated most of our short term Spirit acquisition facility and replacedthis with high quality long term securitised debt in our leased estate,reflecting the transfer of pubs from managed to leased. All of our debt is ateffective fixed rates of interest and we have no refinancing risk or exposure tovolatile credit markets. During the last year we have made significant strides to further improve thequality and resilience of our estate and we are very well placed operationallyand strategically to take advantage of future market opportunities. With thesmoking ban and licensing changes behind us, we can look forward to a period ofgreater operational stability. In addition, Punch has today announced that Robert McDonald is retiring asFinance Director. He will be replaced by Phil Dutton (see separateannouncement). Giles Thorley, Chief Executive, of Punch Taverns commented: "We have made excellent progress in a period of considerable operational changeduring which time our pubs have continued to trade well. Looking forward, ourestate has never been in better shape and remains well placed to capitalise uponthe various opportunities open to us. We remain confident about the futureprospects for the Group." 6 September 2007 Enquiries:Punch Taverns plc Tel: 020 7255 4002Giles Thorley, Chief ExecutiveRobert McDonald, Finance Director College Hill Tel: 020 7457 2020Justine WarrenMatthew Smallwood This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Punch Taverns PLC