Hamish Champ: C'mon Giles. Roll them sleeves up!

Punch Taverns' troubles were understandably the talk of the industry last week.

With profits tumbling and its share price following suit the fate of the group and its near-8,000 pubs was the subject of much conjecture, hyperbole and downright gossip-mongering in the corridors of many a rival operator.

But apart from some members of the very vocal anti-pubco community I couldn't find anyone actually predicting Punch's imminent demise, even privately, when I canvassed views last week.

Yes, the group is up a muddy creek at the moment without any visible means of navigation or propulsion.

Yes, it will no doubt be holding some long, hard talks with its stakeholders, many of whom have seen the capital value of their investment in the business drop like a stone in the last year.

But does this mean Punch is corporately buggered? The short answer appears to be 'no'.

While the group needs to find enough cash to pay down debt and service its estate it will still take a monumental collapse in revenues across its pub estate to see it line up "to join the choir invisible", to quote John Cleese while he held up a bird cage containing an obviously stuffed Norwegian Blue.

The 12 per cent fall in leased pub profits was certainly a blow, while the managed menagerie is still considerably off course. And things will likely get worse in the coming months before they start getting better.

But the group's chief executive Giles Thorley is no fool. While he might well prefer to be a million miles away from the UK pub trade at the moment, this is where he gets to show his mettle.

For all the criticism levelled at him Thorley is a talented executive. And it's vital the man rolls up his sleeves and works tirelessly to get the group, its pubs and its licensees into the best shape going forward. I imagine he would argue this is exactly what he is doing.

There are many Punch lessees already getting on with the job in hand and making a reasonable fist of it, in spite of everything.

But the licensee support recently outlined by Punch will be vital. Will it be enough to stave off the ravages of the economy affecting underperforming pubs? A tricky one that. Only time will tell.

Cutting costs is another key, if rather blindingly obvious, route to take. The proposed redundancies at Punch are very unfortunate for those concerned, but as one looks around the industry right now they are sadly a sign of the times.

But what if all this action failed and Punch was to fold and the banks take over the pubs?

Having a bank manager as one's direct landlord might be OK for some. Banks might - might - take a more relaxed view of the beer tie, for example, though that's not guaranteed.

But then again, if certain financial institutions 'came into' Punch's pub estate by dint of some financial default on the operator's part who would the men in suits get to run the sites day-to-day?

My guess is a bunch of experienced people who used to work for a large pub operator. Like, er, Punch Taverns…