Punch Taverns, one of the UK’s largest pub companies, has reported a drop in full year profits.

The company reported a pretax profit of £262m for the 53 weeks to 23 August, down from £282m last year. EBITDA was down to £623m from £664m.

The economic crisis, the smoking ban, a rise in beer duty, poor summer weather and cheap supermarket offers are all factors in the company’s results, as well as the fact that Punch’s estate is around 7 per cent smaller after it shed a number of non-core pubs. Its estate now stands at 8,400 sites.

Punch plans to divest a further 500 pubs over the next few years.

However, chief executive Giles Thorley remained positive. He said: “Our operational performance has been robust, delivering strong cash flow generation and an underlying profit of £262m before tax, which was in line with market expectations.

“We have secure long term debt and no near term requirement for funding. We have also proactively taken prudent steps in utilising cash to reduce our level of debt, while maintaining investment in our pubs.

“While we are not immune to the current difficult trading conditions, the steps we have taken over the last two years have strengthened our position and leave us well placed to capitalise on any improvement in the wider consumer environment.”