Regent disposals to hit 2003 profits
Regent Inns, the publicly-quoted company that operates Walkabout and Jongleurs, has scaled back profit forecasts for 2003 in the wake of its unbranded pub estate sell-off.
The company announced it would exit its "Discrete Estate" last November. The company said it would invest the cash in to its high street brands.
Regent began that process earlier this year when it sold 13 pubs to Broken Foot Inns, owned by former operations director Peter Mackie, for £8.1m.
More recently, it sold 20 pubs to Wizard Inns in a £27.9m deal.
The company is understood to be in discussions over the disposal of a further 25 unbranded pubs. The company expects to make a book loss on the final disposals and will incorporate any write-downs into 2002 figures, as an exceptional item.
Analysts at WestLB, Deutsche Bank and Investec were all positive on the stock - short-term pain for long-term gain.
Meanwhile, Regent Inns founder David Franks has sold £1.2m of shares. Mr Franks, who quit as chief executive nearly two years ago, has given up his non-executive role.
The former boss has effectively top-sliced his holdings and still has over nine million shares in Regent, a stake of just over 10 per cent, currently worth about £12m.
Regent also announced a £1m rise in insurance premiums in last week's trading statement.
The company, which is planning to roll-out a third brand called PALS, said underlying trading was good.
Average sales across the Walkabout outlets during the first week of the World Cup were £65,000, while the Newquay unit chalked up a staggering £171,000.
