Giles Thorley to quit Punch Taverns
Giles Thorley, chief executive of Punch Taverns, has announced he is leaving the company.
In a statement issued today Punch said Thorley had informed the board of the UK's largest pub company of his intention to step down as chief executive, although a date for his departure has not been announced. He is due to speak to staff at Punch's Burton headquarters later today.
The group said it was "well advanced" with the process of appointing a successor, suggesting Thorley's decision was not made recently.
One market commentator suggested that Adrian Fawcett, Punch's former chief operating officer, might fill Thorley's shoes. Fawcett left Punch in 2007 to become chief executive officer of private hospital group General Healthcare. Another possible candidate could be Carl Lever, a former Whitbread executive and lately international director at Marks & Spencer.
In a statement Thorley said: "After nine exciting years at Punch I have decided to leave the business. Having grown Punch into Britain's largest pub company, the past two years we have faced the worst recession for a generation and significant structural and political challenges to the industry.
"We have made good progress in reshaping our business and balance sheet, stabilised our operating performance and have taken the right actions to position Punch to achieve long term sustainable success.
"Punch has a great team in place and I am confident that they can continue to lead the industry forward and secure the future of the great tradition that is the British pub."
Sources close to Punch stressed Thorley's decision to leave the company was his and that no compensation would be made to him.
"It's a long time to be in one company, but with the fund-raising out of the way and the debt coming down he felt now was the time to go," the source added.
Thorley was appointed chief executive of Punch in January 2003, having joined Punch as executive chairman in December 2001.
A qualified barrister, Thorley's early career was at Japanese banking group Nomura International.
He led the IPO of Punch in May 2002 and headed subsequent acquisitions including Pubmaster in 2003 and Spirit Group in 2006.
Punch shares began life on the London Stock Exchange at 230p, rising to £13 five years later at the height of the market boom. However along with many other listed pub stocks its shares have subsequently plummeted. Today they were trading at 83p.
Looking at total returns on investment, over the last five years the FTSE All Share index has seen a 42 per cent increase, while over the same period Punch Taverns fell 87 per cent.
It is fair to say Thorley has made a lot of money during his time as head of the UK's largest pub company, both from his basic salary, bonuses, pension fund payments and millions of pounds generated through share sales. Last year his salary package totalled £681,000.
