Punch pressing on with disposals

PUNCH Taverns has reported its underlying financial performance is in line with expectations but profits are down £8m year on year.

The Burton pubco’s interim results for the 28 weeks to March 3 show profit before tax of £33m (2011: £41m).

Punch has £216m of cash reserves and is continuing its programme of pub disposals. It is on track to dispose of between 400 and 500 non-core pubs for the full year.

CEO Roger Whiteside said: “Despite weaker consumer market conditions in recent months our teams have worked hard to contain costs and deliver profits in line with our expectations for the first half and we remain on track to meet our full year profit expectations.

“Notwithstanding the continuing challenging climate we have a clear operational plan to return the core estate to growth in the medium-term and extract maximum value from our non-core assets.

“We are making progress towards our aim to become the UK’s highest quality, most trusted and best value leased pub company and are focused on creating value for our shareholders through successful long-term partnerships with our licensees in our core estate of 3,000 of the highest quality, best invested leased pubs in the country.”