Enterprise set to slow pub closures

The UK’s biggest pub landlord said it has completed plans to dispose of a large chunk of its estate after raising £264 million from the sale of more than 1,000 venues over two years.

Enterprise Inns, which had 6,143 leasehold and tenant pubs at the end of March, said it will continue to sell underperforming pubs but at more normal levels.

The Solihull-based group sold 131 properties in the six months to March, raising £89m and making a £10m profit on the disposals, although its net debt still stands at £2.9 billion.

The sell-off has hit earnings at the group, with underlying pre-tax profits down 13 per cent to £64m.

The group said given current economic uncertainty it was still not appropriate to resume paying a dividend to shareholders.

Chief executive Ted Tuppen said the company had been subjected to “extremely challenging conditions” over the past four years, with cost pressures, consumer weakness and political interference among factors making life difficult for Enterprise and its publicans.

For the full year, Enterprise expects to deliver total sale proceeds of around £200m, followed by a further £150m next year.