Shares in Punch Taverns, Britain's biggest pubs operator, continued to rise after the news that it is ahead of schedule with its programme to sell non-core assets.
Punch is "doing all the right things," said Blue Oar Securities analyst Mark Brumby, but he sounded a note of caution on the company: "The hand that it's been dealt is far from an ideal one and, whilst we could see the group's shares going better in the short term, we would continue to avoid them other than on a trading view."
Punch shares were up by 31.25p to 149p, while rival pubs group Enterprise Inns did even better, topping the FTSE 250 leaderboard with a 24.5p jump - 17% - to 167.75p. .
The FTSE 100 was trading 90 points higher at 4279.16 shortly before the the start of trade on Wall Street. Dow futures indicated a gain of over 100 points.
