Punch to invest £38m in managed pubs
The managed division of Punch plans to invest £38m in refurbishing between 230 and 240 pubs this financial year.
The company would focus on four brands: Chef & Brewer, Fayre and Square, Taylor Walker and Flaming Grill.
Managed boss Mike Tye said the company would invest in another 43 Chef & Brewers to take the total number of refurbished sites to 100 by Christmas.
There are 32 new Fayre & Square venues which will rise to 80 by the third quarter of the financial year.
The re-branding of iconic London pubs to the Taylor Walker brand has seen 80 pubs converted with another 20 to be done by Christmas.
Tye said the company was "feeling pretty good" about the existing handful of Flaming Grill venues - and another 30 will be converted in the current year.
The planned investment is a slight step-up from last year when £31m was spent refurbishing 220 pubs.
In 2009, the company spent just £16m on 50 refurbishments as it undertook an estate review.
Marketing spend will increase by 40% in the current year and the division will target signing up one million customers through digital platforms.
Tye said the company has so far replaced four out of five of its operations directors, 50% of its business development managers and 30% of its general managers.
He said that the managed division had now closed the like-for-like gap with its peer group "quite dramatically".
"We've now stabilised the ship and the platform for growth is established," he said.
Tye dismissed suggestions that improved performance in the managed division is down to the weather, the World Cup and investment.
He revealed that sales are positive in uninvested pubs, Chef & Brewer had seen sales growth during the World Cup which doesn't normally favour food-led pubs and sales momentum had been maintained in August when weather compared unfavourably with the year before. Tough personal performance targets were being set for managers.
The company has a two-month programme called "Up or Out". "Profit can grow rapidly between 15 and 20%," he said.
