Thorley's departure the 'elephant in the room' at Punch's City meeting

Giles Thorley's imminent departure from Punch Taverns was the "elephant in the room" at the group's results presentation to analysts earlier this week, according to one broker who attended the get-together.

Hugh-Guy Lorriman, who covers the pub sector for broker Seymour Pierce, noted that Thorley presented to City analysts "in his usual manner", but that his looming exit from the group "remained the 'elephant in the room'. No questions were asked on this".

Lorriman said the presentation "sounded a cautious note of trading going into 2011 with underlying tenanted trends in particular likely to continue to be negative".

The analyst said he was forecasting declining earnings per share growth at the company "compared to the consensus expectations of growth" and was recommending investors sell their shares.

Others were more positive, however. James Dawson at Charles Stanley Securities had the stock as a 'buy', saying the company had reported first half profits five per cent above its own forecasts and that while its "'Turnaround Division' still has plenty more work required" the group offered "performance enhancement potential".

And retaining his own 'Buy' recommendation on the stock Simon French of Panmure Gordon said he believed "significant shareholder value can be created if the group can halt the like-for-like sales decline in managed pubs and rebuild profitability".

And in a boost for Mike Tye's claim on the top job - Tye runs Punch's managed pub operation and has applied for the post - French said he was sticking with his view that the appointment of a new chief executive "will act as positive catalyst for the shares, particularly if they have managed pubs experience".

Punch's shares were trading at 95.5p this morning, down nearly one per cent.