Joe Lewis gives up on pub company M&B after second bid rejected

Lewis’s vehicle Piedmont, which owns a 23 per cent stake in M&B and helped force through boardroom change at the target last year, said it had decided not to proceed with an offer after two possible bids were refused.

M&B, whose outlets include the All Bar One and O’Neill’s chains and Deacon Brodie’s Tavern in Edinburgh, rejected an initial offer approach of 224p a share and a subsequent higher approach of 230p a share. The latter valued the company at about £940 million.

M&B’s shares fell 9 per cent after yesterday’s announcement by Lewis. The stock has lost over a third of its value since the start of the year, giving the pubs group a stock market value of about £900m.

Piedmont cited M&B’s weak trading and volatile markets for walking away. In a statement it said: “After careful consideration, Piedmont has decided not to proceed with an offer for M&B. Piedmont will remain an active and engaged shareholder in the company.”

A spokesman for Lewis said the “fundamental valuation and outlook is now more uncertain and clearly there is increased risk around the business”.

M&B, whose chief executive is former Scottish & Newcastle executive Jeremy Blood, revealed last month that its sales growth slowed to 0.5 per cent in the nine weeks to 17 September. This compared with 2.7 per cent in the 51 weeks to that date.

At that time, Blood said that the consumer environment was “challenging”, while a spokesman for Lewis claimed it was “a very disappointing report card for all shareholders”.