Punch Taverns chief executive calls time after nine years at firm

Giles Thorley, chief executive of Punch Taverns, is seen as one of the pioneers of large modern British pub groups, having grown Punch to the leader in the sector during his tenure.

Punch said it was "well advanced" in finding his successor and

confirmed there would be an orderly handover.

It was not clear what he plans to do after leaving Punch, but it is thought his next move will not be in the pub industry.

Seymour Pierce leisure sector analyst Hugh-Guy Lorriman described the departure as "unexpected and a shock".

He added: "Giles Thorley is synonymous with Punch Taverns and is a key founder of the group."

Mr Thorley's decision to quit comes after a tough period for the company, with the whole industry having been hammered in recent years by the smoking ban, the recession and rises in alcohol duty.

Mr Thorley said: "Having grown Punch into Britain's largest pub company, the past two years we have faced the worst recession for a generation and significant structural and political challenges to the industry.

"We have made good progress in reshaping our business and balance sheet, stabilised our operating performance and have taken the right actions to position Punch to achieve long term sustainable success."

Punch, which has more than 7,600 leased and tenanted pubs, plunged to annual losses of 405.7m in the year to last August after slashing 663m from the value of its estate.

The group has taken action to stabilise the pub estate, but its last trading update revealed that profits remained under pressure due to lower beer volumes and weaker rental income.

Like-for-like profits were showing a similar decline to the last financial year, when they plummeted by 11 per cent.

Despite the huge losses, Mr Thorley led plans to strengthen the firm's balance sheet by cutting more than 1bn from its debt pile in the last financial year, to 3.5bn.

Other self-help measures also included a 375m fundraising with shareholders in order to prevent it being forced into disposing of core parts of its pub estate.

Peter Crawdon, chairman of Punch, said Mr Thorley's "dedication has not wavered during good and bad times".

"He will leave a business poised to benefit from an improvement in economic conditions. The board wishes him every success in the next part of his career."

Trained as a barrister, Mr Thorley, 42, joined Punch as executive chairman in 2001, later appointed chief executive in 2003.

Since his time as chief executive, he has grown the pub portfolio from around 4,200 to more than 7,600 – although it was even bigger before a recent round of disposals and closures.

Analysts feels his successor will have to lead further revival efforts at the business.