Punch Taverns, the UK's largest pub firm by outlets, has warned that its full-year results are likely to be lower than expected due to the "unprecedented" bad weather that hit the UK at the start of the summer.
In a pre-close update the company confirmed that while trading levels had since returned to normal, pre-tax profits for the year to August 18th were subsequently expected to be around two to three per cent less than its board had previously anticipated.
However Punch, which like other pub groups has faced enormous change in recent times as a result of the introduction of smoking bans and licensing changes, remains confident about its prospects.
The company insists that it has detected "no significant impact" so far following the implementation of the smoking ban in England on July 1st.
Punch also says that with the smoking ban and licensing changes now behind the company, it is looking forward to a period of greater operational stability.
The company revealed that its 7,561 pubs run by independent landlords saw like-for-like profits increase by 2.7 per cent over the year to August 18th, with sales boosted by the recent conversion of 637 outlets that had previously been managed centrally.
Like-for-like sales across Punch's core managed estate also climbed by 3.5 per cent over the year.
Commenting ahead of the release of the company's full-year results on November 8th, Punch chief executive Giles Thorley said: "'We have made excellent progress in a period of considerable operational change during which time our pubs have continued to trade well.
"Looking forward, our estate has never been in better shape and remains well placed to capitalise upon the various opportunities open to us," he added.
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