It seems that Tchenguiz's stake in M&B has been sold to Bahamas-based billionaire Joe Lewis, co-owner of sports and media group Enic. He has a nearly 22% holding while Tchenguiz's Violet Capital retains 3% or so.
I wonder what having Joe Lewis as an anchor investor will be like for the stock. Is he likely to shake things up with the M&B board?
There's an interesting Wikipedia profile on him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Lewis_(British_businessman)
The thing is that operational trading for this stock has actually been quite robust - same outlet like-for-like sales climbed 1.3% in the nine weeks to Sep. 20th. In that sense, it's hard to see what pressure on the board will achieve. The 70% year to date decline in the share price appears to reflect more general fear on the part of equity market investors, rather than anything company specific. However, perhaps, it's just anticipation of the pain to come in UK food & beverage retail...
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/icelandic-wipeout-serves-up-stake-in-uk-pub-group-to-irish-investors-1493107.html
It's a mix really - they have a portfolio of high street, residential and suburban pubs. Their local pubs include Ember Inns and Sizzling Pub Co.. On the high street, they have O'Neill's, Scream (for students) and some late-night music bars, including 70s themed Flares. They have some classic pubs, like the White Horse in Parsons Green, in London.
I agree that, as a "vice", alcohol consumption should therefore resilient to an economic downturn. So traditionally, pub stocks have been viewed as a safe haven in downturns. However, since the last recession, the sales mix has moved strongly in favour of food and away from relatively dependable beer revenue. Moreover, even in good economic times, the UK pub industry is a troubled one - as discussed in the Pubs sector article. It faces a number of issues, including:
Still, having said all that, I do think that the M&B assets are high quality and its management is one of the best in the sector, so I am a bull on M&B but a bear generally on pubs. Hopefully, that doesn't sound too schizophrenic!
