Olympics hit pub chain beer sales

Enterprise Inns, which has 6,060 leasehold and tenanted pubs, said that while “national pride” might have received a boost, beer volumes dropped eight per cent year-on-year in the two weeks covering the Olympics, compared to a three per cent decline for the financial year.

The group saw pre-tax profits drop 12 per cent to £137m in the year to September 30 as it continued its disposal programme, selling 301 properties in the period.

Enterprise, which saw like-for-like sales decline 1.2 per cent, compared to a 4.3 per cent drop the previous year, said it had raised £208m from disposals in the period. Within this, 199 properties were unsustainable pubs, generating net sale proceeds of £67m, while 102 were “exceptional properties”, generating net proceeds of £117m.

A further 17 were sold as a sale-and-leaseback package for net proceeds of £24m. The group said its performance was lifted by events such as the Diamond Jubilee and Euro 2012, although these were offset by record-breaking rainfall in the period.

Enterprise said it wants to reduce the size of the estate to 5,200 properties over the next three years and spend £180m on improving the quality of its estate. It hopes to receive proceeds for disposals in the year to September 2013 of around £150m.

The board said that due to economic uncertainty, it believes that it is not appropriate to resume dividend payments.