Young’s to sell most of tenanted pubs estate for £53m

Young’s will sell 56 of the 63 pubs in the Ram Pub Company to Punch Pubs & Co. It will retain the remaining seven pubs for the long term.

The group said that following one of its regular reviews, it decided the best way to increase value for shareholders was to withdraw from the tenanted model and focus solely on operating "premium, individual, differentiated and predominantly freehold managed pubs and hotels".

Net proceeds from the sale will be used to strengthen the balance sheet and provide additional capacity for investment in its managed estate. Young’s said it will look to acquire predominantly freehold managed pubs

Chief executive Patrick Dardis said: "Young’s sole focus will now be on operating well-invested and premium managed pubs and hotels. We have a proven history of making attractive returns from investing in high-quality pubs and this disposal will provide us with additional firepower to upgrade our existing pubs and capitalise on attractive acquisition opportunities that may come to the market.

"During lockdown, we invested a total of £17m in improving the pubs in our managed estate and the purchase of two new pubs: Enderby House in Greenwich and Alban’s Well in St Albans.

"We are delighted to be welcoming back our customers and are already seeing encouraging trading, despite some restrictions remaining. The board is confident Young’s will emerge from the pandemic in a stronger position and is excited about the future of the business."

The disposal is expected to complete on 9 August.