Enterprise Inns says it is confident its English and Welsh licensees are "well placed to benefit from the incoming smoking ban", despite the pub group selling up its entire Scottish pub estate.
Announcing its annual results, which saw pre-tax profits of £315m up 8.6 per cent on turnover up two per cent at £970m, Enterprise said much of the £54m invested in its 7,809-strong estate has been focused on preparing for the forthcoming ban.
The sale of its 137 Scottish pubs to Robert Tchenguiz's R20 suggests the impact of the smoking ban, which has been in place in Scotland since March, is being keenly felt by lessees. In the recent survey carried out for The Publican Food Report 2006, 29 per cent of Scottish pubs said trade had declined as a result of the ban.
Enterprise sold more than 700 pubs in England and Wales to Admiral Taverns earlier this year in another churning exercise.
The group says 89 per cent of its pubs in England and Wales have outside trading areas and 85 per cent offer food.
Average EBITDA per pub rose 5.2 per cent in the year to September 30 2006 to £64,200.
The group said it had "maintained its commitment to fair rents" during the year, while like-for-like licensee profitability had increased in line with inflation.
It remained committed to buying back shares and expects to return at least the same amount to investors in the coming year as the £463m that was paid in 2006. A final dividend payment of 27p a share represented a 50 per cent increase on the previous payout.