Young’s sells majority of tenanted pubs to Punch for £53m

Young’s has agreed to sell 56 of the 63 pubs within its tenanted arm, which is known as the Ram Pub Company.

It will retain the remaining seven pubs for the long term.

Young’s says the best way to increase value for shareholders was to withdraw from the tenanted model and focus solely on operating premium and predominantly freehold managed pubs and hotels.

Net proceeds from the sale will be used to strengthen the company’s balance sheet and provide additional capacity for investment in its managed estate.

The group will look to acquire predominantly freehold managed pubs going forward.

By focusing on its managed house estate, the group says head office costs would be lower.

“Young’s sole focus will now be on operating well-invested and premium managed pubs and hotels," says Patrick Dardis, chief executive of Young’s.

"We have a proven history of making attractive returns from investing in high-quality pubs and this disposal will provide us with additional firepower to upgrade our existing pubs and capitalise on attractive acquisition opportunities that may come to the market.

“During lockdown, we invested a total of £17M in improving the pubs in our managed estate and the purchase of two new pubs: Enderby House in Greenwich and Alban’s Well in St Albans.

“We are delighted to be welcoming back our customers and are already seeing encouraging trading, despite some restrictions remaining. The Board is confident Young’s will emerge from the pandemic in a stronger position and is excited about the future of the business.”

It was reported back in May​​ that Young's was mulling a potential sale of its tenanted estate. 

Completion of the disposal is expected to occur 9 August 2021.