Shares in Britain’s two biggest pub groups Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns dropped yesterday after a committee of MPs said it would investigate beer prices and rents paid by thousands of publicans.
The study will offer licensees the opportunity to air any grievances against their corporate masters.
Punch, which owns around 7,400 pubs, saw shares fall 5% to 503p.
Shares in Enterprise, which owns more than 9,000 pubs, fell nearly 3% to 578p.
The trade and industry commission’s decision to investigate follows lobbying by the Federation of Small Businesses, which is acting for unhappy publicans.
References: Financial Times 08/05/04 page 1, Financial Times Money & Business 08/05/04 page 1, Daily Telegraph 08/05/04 page 29,The Times Business 08/05/04 page 55, The Guardian 08/05/04 page 26
