Stonegate will focus the majority of its investments on conversions of tenanted sites to managed, founder and chairman Ian Payne told MCA’s Pub Conference.
In a fireside chat with MCA’s editor Finn Scott-Delany, Payne said the business had an £180m investment programme in place for the current financial year, which would see more than £100k invested in over 150 pubs.
“We’ve already transferred this year nearly 100 sites from tenanted to managed and next year that number will be nearer 200,” Payne told delegates.
“That was an integral part of our strategic plan when we bought the Ei Group and certainly that’s going to be the main focus for next year.”
Stonegate acquired Ei Group in March 2020 for £1.27bn, picking up around 4,000 pubs and making it the largest pub operator in the UK.
Earlier this month, MCA learned the operator had placed a package of around 75 former Ei Group freehold pubs on the market with a valuation of up to £100m, which would continue to be run by Stonegate’s tenants.
Payne confirmed the business had so far sold about 50 individual sites this year.
“We’ll continue to do that because it’s good estate management,” he said. “Things change, sites for whatever reason don’t fit with your portfolio, it makes sense to sell them, so we will continue to do that.”
