The Times

Britain’s biggest pub company, Punch Taverns, is rumoured to be in exclusive talks to sell as many of 1,000 tenancies to Admiral Taverns, a privately owned rival.

A report in The Publican suggests that Admiral has been given a few weeks to agree a sale, which analysts believe could be worth up to £400m.

Admiral owns almost 2,000 tenancies, many of them from bigger operators, including Punch and Enterprise Inns.