Punch Taverns, one of the largest chain of pubs in the UK has reported a drop in like-for-like sales, despite selling assets worth £95 million.
During the second quarter of 2012 (March – May) the pub chain saw a drop of 6.4 per cent in sales, when compared to the same time last year. This was mainly blamed on the timing of the bank holidays and the wet weather that we have experienced recently.
Speaking of the sales figures, Roger Whiteside, CEO of Punch Taverns, said: “Having worked hard to contain costs, we remain on track to meet management’s full year profit expectations.
“Our anticipation of a difficult third quarter, because of strong comparatives last year, has been compounded by the exceptional wet weather this year. Encouragingly, we have made a good start to our fourth quarter and notwithstanding recent difficult market conditions, the underlying business remains robust.”
Last year, the company announced plans to sell roughly 400-500 of their 1713 non-core commercial property assets. This deadline is on track, as they have already sold 349 pubs to date, as Roger added: “We remain on-track to maximise value from our non-core assets.”
The company has 2942 core commercial properties which it is keen to keep that bring in the most revenue. The total net income on the core pubs was down just 1 per cent – not bad considering many struggling companies have to close their doors for good.
Do you think the bad weather put a dampener on Punch Taverns sales? Or do you think people are now more aware of keeping hold of their disposable income?
