Directors of British Country Inns, the Enterprise Investment Scheme-backed pub company, have no timescale for putting part of the business back on the market, executive director Tim Udell has told M&C Report.
The eight-strong British Country Inns 1, which comprises five pubs in East Anglia, and individual sites in Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Somerset, was placed on the market as a share sale one year ago with Christie + Co. It was later removed from sale as no buyer was found.
Udell said there was one offer made for the company at a price he described as “silly”, and shareholders voted to carry on trading.
“That’s what we are doing with a view to how the economy pans out in the future,” he said. “We are in a limbo period.
“There’s no point trying to market the business at the moment. I guess we will review it every six to 12 months.”
However, Udell said he was hopeful that pub prices have now bottomed out. He added that BCI was “not particularly interested” in single-site disposals.
BCI1 is one of four EIS-backed firms that make up the 27-strong BCI Group. Last week the company reported a narrowing of losses in the year to 28 January, £297,881 against £1.2m, and announced that non-executive chairman Anthony Miller is to leave his role and be replaced by current non-executive director Martin Sherwood.
