Pubco Punch suffers a major blow as full year revenue and profits decline
PUBCO Punch Taverns has seen full year revenue and profits slide as it continues its property disposal strategy to free up capital.
The Burton-upon-Trent group has seen revenue decline 7% to £458m (2012: £492m), with a 9% decline in EBITDA to £216m (2012: ££238m). This compares to a reduction in the average estate size of 9%, the group said.
Pre-tax profit declined 23% to £49m (2012: £64m) and basic earnings per share dropped to 5.7p (2012: 7.2p).
The board has said it will not be recommending a final dividend and is unlikely to make any payout to shareholders until its restructuring is complete.
On non-underlying items the group said there was a loss after tax of £17m. This includes a £16m credit arising from the movement in the fair value of certain interest rate swaps together with a £39m charge relating to the recycling of a proportion of the hedge reserve, an £11m profit on disposal of properties, a £10m charge for asset write-downs, a £4m goodwill charge and an £8m charge for restructuring costs. The tax effect of all of these items, together with the resolution of prior year tax matters, gave rise to a tax credit of £15m.
Stephen Billingham, Executive Chairman of Punch Taverns, said: “We have delivered profits for the year in line with our expectations and returned the core estate to growth in the most recent quarter.
“We have made excellent progress in implementing operational changes during the course of the year and this is reflected in our recent financial performance. Pubs in which we have invested have shown significant improvement in performance and the core division accounts for over 80% of group EBITDA.
“Expectations of future net income growth for the core estate remain unchanged from those previously announced, with a return to like-for-like net income growth of up to 1% expected in the 2014 financial year.”
