Punch Taverns swings to loss in first half

Pub group Punch Taverns swung to a loss in the first half of the year on the back of write-down charges.

In its interim results for the 28 weeks to 4 March, the company said it made a statutory pre-tax loss of £174m compared to a profit of £55m in the first half of last year. This includes £198m of non-underlying charges, namely due to the write-down in goodwill and assets following shareholder approval for the sale of the group to Heineken in February.

Like-for-like net income fell 1.2% in the leased and tenanted estate, including the Mercury division, but was flat after adjusting for the impact of the previously flagged temporary slowdown in letting activity.

Meanwhile, underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation came in at £88m, down from £94m a year ago, reflecting the impact of £53m of disposals completed in the last 12 months.

Chief executive officer Duncan Garrood said: "During the period, we have doubled the size of our Retail estate and continue to innovate our operating agreements. This has been achieved whilst managing through a period of significant change, ahead of the sale of the group which is now expected to complete before the end of August 2017."

On 10 February, Punch shareholders approved a 180p a share takeover offer from Heineken, made by Vine Acquisitions, which is the vehicle the brewer shares with Patron Capital.

At 1100 BST, Punch shares were up 0.7% to 176.16p.