Punch boss praises year of ‘continued progress’
24 January 2007 09:30
Punch Taverns has released a statement ahead of its AGM in which the chief executive has commented on trading since the start of the financial year on August 20th 2006. Punch Taverns boss Giles Thorley said: "This has been a period of continued progress for Punch Taverns on all fronts. Our pubs are trading well in a quiet market and we have continued to improve the quality of our estate through conversions, acquisitions and investment."
In the first 20 weeks of the financial year, to January 6th, Punch Taverns acquired 125 pubs and sold 56, taking its overall estate to 9,325 pubs. Acquisitions included Mill House Inns, a company owning 82 high quality directly managed pubs which was acquired in September for £164 million. Punch Taverns added that it has continued to invest in pub amenities and customer service ahead of the smoking ban later this year. The company also announced that chairman Phil Cox would be retiring after four years and will be replaced by Peter Cawdron. Andrew Knight, currently managing director of the Spirit managed pub estate, will become an executive director and Phil Dutton, formerly finance director of Matalan, will join the board as an executive director.
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