Punch hoping for knock-out World Cup
British pubs operator Punch Taverns today looked forward to World Cup glory for Sven’s men this summer as it looked to build on a strong start to the year.
Punch, which has more than 9,500 sites, believes the tournament in Germany will be good for business, especially if England succeed.
The company said its pubs were “fantastic” places to watch football as it posted a 13% hike in pre-tax profits for the first half of the year.
Punch banked £116m (€170m) in the 28 weeks to March 4, compared with £103m (€151m) last year after sales leapt 53% to £619m (€909m).
The company was boosted by the acquisition of 1,830 pubs from Spirit.
A spokesman for Punch said: "World Cups are positive for Punch because people go to the pub to watch football, and when you own more than 9,500 pubs that is a lot of people.
“Pubs are a fantastic environment for people to enjoy the World Cup.”
Punch has produced a World Cup newspaper for its pubs and staff will wear Pepsi uniforms throughout. There will also be a special football food and promotions on non-alcoholic drinks.
Punch chief executive Giles Thorley said the first half was “another excellent result” for the company.
He added: “The second half has started well and continued the steady pattern of the first half. We look forward to an active programme for the remainder of the year and a satisfactory outcome.”
Punch said it was too early to assess the full impact of the smoking ban in Scotland which came into force in March but results were “encouraging” so far with “little overall change”.
It added that preparations were well underway for the ban in England and Wales which is expected in summer 2007.
The company said that it benefited from the fact that 95% of its pubs had beer gardens or other outside spaces where people may be able smoke.
It also said that its pubs in England and Wales were already moving to reduce smoking, with more than 50 introducing a ban in the last six months.
Punch has an estate of 7,748 pubs which it leases out to be managed independently, and recently bought more than 1,800 sites from Spirit for £2.7bn (€3.9bn). Punch said it planned to transfer the majority of the Spirit estate to lease.
