History repeating?

Being a young 'un - OK, relatively ​speaking - I only know of Harold MacMillan's famous quote about British people never having had it so good via history programmes on the telly.

But looking at where the UK economy is now compared with how things have been in the past decade, the old duffer's words come to mind again.

Bankers and finance experts are warning that the next two years - maybe longer - will be unlike anything we've seen for a long time.

Rising inflation and interest rates, calls for wage restraint from a Labour administration and the spectre of industrial unrest in the public sector: it all rather smacks of the late 1970s. If history continues to repeat itself at such a rate we'll soon have the Sex Pistols swearing on early evening TV and thereafter a Tory government led by a woman.

Joking aside, the economic signs are not good for the foreseeable future. Stocks-wise we're in a bear market. And with consumers fearful of spending their hard-earned money on non-essentials pubs will bear the brunt of a downturn as much as anyone.

Against this background the last thing an operator needs is speculation about its financial health. Punch Taverns' hasty move to scotch speculation about its financial position by releasing a planned statement two weeks early shows just how sensitive listed companies are to such talk.

In Punch's case, its comments - no profits warning or financial re-jig needed; no Spirit sale; its chance of becoming a REIT - will have served to satisfy many people. For now.

But even those in the City who are sympathetic towards the UK's largest pubco quietly voice fears that if trading doesn't recover as the group hopes, such radical changes to its structure will be inevitable.

And what price its shares then?