A Yorkshire tax analyst said the move by M & B, which owns All Bar One and Harvester, showed it was being pro-active and that other businesses may try to ring-fence the value of their property in the same way.

M & B, which has a £6bn property portfolio, yesterday confirmed its predicted switch to Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) as it tried to bounce back after losing £274m on a failed property deal last year.

It said it would "more fully capture the value of the property estate when market conditions are suitable".

Russ Cahill, tax director at BDO Stoy Hayward in Leeds, said M & B could protect the value of its property in case trading at its pubs declined during the economic downturn.

"It's good pro-active management. M & B can ring-fence the value of its property so it doesn't get tainted by underperforming operations. They will get proper recognition for the value of their property portfolio. REIT is flavour of the month and other firms may follow as we get into the credit crunch."

Last week Enterprise Inns, one of M & B's major rivals, said it was likely to decide in favour of converting to REIT and might do so by the start of October.

M & B's move came after calls from investor and property billionaire Robert Tchenguiz, who is the firm's largest shareholder, with around 27 per cent.

The tycoon was jointly working with M&B on the aborted property venture last year. The debt-financed joint venture would have involved around 1,300 of its pubs and returned substantial cash to shareholders, but was shelved amid the credit crunch.

Mr Tchenguiz has also won his battle to have two representatives appointed to its board.

The Birmingham-based firm's interim results, released yesterday, showed a 5.6 per cent drop in pre-tax profits to £84m in the six months to April 12. Its interim results showed revenue of £995m.

It also said its same outlet food sales were up 5.1 per cent and its drinks decline was limited to 1.5 per cent.

M & B chief executive Tim Clarke remained optimistic, saying: "Strong food sales growth, sizable drinks market share gains and further productivity improvements have delivered these resilient trading results."