Today’s news in brief – 25/09/24

Tortilla saw revenues in H1 fall from £32.7m to £31.5m, as overall like-for-like revenues fell 5.5% due to a planned decision to end its ties with Deliveroo. This move culminated in an “expected” delivery revenue decline of 10.3% like-for-like, albeit with improved delivery profitability of £0.5m in the first half. However, Tortilla performed well across franchise stores. 

Drinks sales have dropped 5% for the week ended 14 September, far less than the 12% fall seen in the week before. Trading was negative on all seven days of the week, though Saturday fared slightly better than the rest with a decrease of just 2%. For the second week in a row, wine was the best performing category, with sales fractionally up by 0.1%. 

CAMRA has appointed Ash Corbett-Collins as its new chairman. Having held the role of vice chairman since last November, Corbett-Collins is a “long-standing” national executive member who was first elected to the board of the campaign in 2018. Previous chairman Nik Antona stepped down due to ill health after a five-and-a-half year tenure. 

Punch Pubs and Co has acquired the Milton 1 and 2 portfolio from Aprirose, adding a further 14 pubs to its 1,300-strong estate. The newly acquired pubs, currently operated by Blackrose Pubs, will benefit from Punch’s commitment to investment and development. The deal takes Punch’s total acquisitions in the last 12 months to more than 50 pubs.