Punch Taverns has "no plans to buy brewer

Despite speculation to the contrary, Punch Taverns has no plans to buy a brewery, chief executive Giles Thorley told thepublican.com today.

The market has been awash with rumours in recent weeks that Punch was set to make a move for a large regional brewer such as Greene King, but Thorley dismissed such speculation.

"Strategically there is no value in [us] buying a brewer," he said. "There are better people out there, brand owners, who are better at making beer than us."

If Punch had bought Belhaven or had been successful in its bid for Hardys & Hansons, it would have sold on the brewery facility, he added.

Thorley said Punch's situation was analogous to that of Tesco. "They have their own label products, but they don't actually make anything. Instead they source everything from third party suppliers. So do we."

Punch meanwhile announced sales for the six months to March 3 2007 up 49 per cent to £921.1m, with pre-tax profits up 13.3 per cent to £131.8m.

Overall EBITDA in the group's 8,119-strong leased estate - prior to the sale of 869 pubs to Admiral Taverns - grew seven per cent to £249m, while its managed estate saw earnings of £90m.

Average profit per leased pub rose eight per cent on the previous year, with average profitability likely to rise further, the group said, as the transfer to lease and disposal programmes were completed.

Thorley confirmed that there were no more large scale disposals planned following the Admiral deal and said the managed estate would number around 800 sites by August 2007.

Punch's preparations for the smoking ban in England continue apace, he added, with useful experience being gained in Scotland, where like-for-like profits in the leased estate fell 1.3 per cent.

Thorley stressed this was a "much lower" decline than the market had been expecting.

Punch's shares were down 48p - 3.68 per cent - at 1,256p this morning.