A downbeat outlook statement from Punch Taverns to accompany a £350m share issue has helped push down pub company shares.
Punch - the most endebted of the UK's pub companies - is raising the money to buy back some outstanding convertible bonds. The company updated investors on trading, saying: "While we are confident of the longer-term expectations of the group and our expectations for the full year remain unchanged, we remain very cautious over the near-term due to the lack of forward visibility on trading outlook."
Pub companies have been hit by the general consumer slowdown, tax and duty increases and competition from supermarkets selling cheap alcohol. Only this weekend came reports that Lloyds Banking Group is writing off up to £500m of loans to tenanted pubs group Admiral Taverns, after the value of its estate dropped in value.
Punch is now 26.75p lower at 121.75p, while rival Enterprise Inns is down 7.5p at 142.5p and Marstons has slipped 7.25p to 153.25p.
