A leading leisure analyst has described the news of Britvic's successful refinancing as positive news for pub groups and as further evidence that banks are gradually reopening for business.
Geof Collyer from Deutsche Bank forecast that shares in Enterprise Inns, JD Wetherspoon and Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) would all benefit from Britvic having effectively extended its 2010 facilities out to 2012.
Collyer said if Enterprise Inns, which has a bank facility set to mature in May 2011, could achieve the same terms as Britvic then there would be no need to downgrade forecasts.
Shares in JD Wetherspoon, which is in discussions with its banks about its short-term debt that is callable in September 2009 and next year, would also benefit although to a lesser extent than Enterprise.
Collyer said that the news should also be seen as positive for M&B, although he expected any terms for both M&B and Enterprise to include property and possibly pay-down agreements as their existing banking facilities were above the 3.5x debt to ebitda level of Britvic.
In a note, Collyer said: "We estimate that by the time that the Enterprise Inns & M&B facilities are due to be repaid / refinanced, that they should have been reduced by around one-third via internal cash generation.
"Overall, we see the Britvic news as further evidence, alongside the recent refinancings by Marston's and William Hill, of banks gradually reopening for business."
On the back of the refinancing shares in Britvic jumped 4% yesterday to 255.25p and Enterprise Inns also benefited, increasing by 16% to 113.75p.
Punch Taverns also increased by 18.8% to 107.5p off the back of the Britvic news.
