Laine Pub Company aim for 20 sites as part of Mash Inns partnership with Enterprise: London and Brighton based multiple operator and micro brewer The Laine Pub Company is to form a new joint venture “managed expert” partnership with Enterprise Inns to be called Mash Inns. It will see Laine Pub Company, backed by Luke Johnson’s Risk Capital Partners, provide the operational resource and management expertise to run pubs from Enterprise’s estate that have been identified as having exceptional profit potential. Laine Pub Company chairman Gary Pettet said: “Laine’s is delighted to have been given the opportunity to work with the UK’s biggest pub owner on a venture that provides significant benefits to both parties. Enterprise has excellent pubs located in our Brighton heartland and in the London locations where we have been expanding our estate. Laine’s has the skills to help run the pubs under management and aims to apply its format to six of them a year, with a target estate size of 20.” Although the pubs will be operated by Mash Inns, support will be provided directly from the team at Laine Pub Company. “We hope to seamlessly integrate the support for the Mash sites into our existing operational setup,” said Laine’s chief executive, Gavin George. “As existing Enterprise lessees, we are aware of the quality of the sites in their estate, so we are very excited about the depth of possibilities that this partnership presents. When we created the original incarnation of the Laine’s business twenty years ago, the first site we opened was the Mash Tun in Brighton. Held on an Enterprise lease, the pub was an overnight success and a springboard for our growth. It seems fitting to recognise the importance of our first pub and the support we have received from Enterprise over the years by connecting the name of this latest venture to both.” Enterprise chief executive Simon Townsend added: “The Laine Pub Company has a reputation for creating highly individual and exciting pub environments and is one of the stand-out multiple operators in the industry at the moment. We’ve had a great relationship with them for many years so it is pleasing to be working even more closely together on this exciting new venture.” In addition to creating and managing a new pub estate, Mash Inns is also expected to provide consultancy and support for Enterprise Inns’ Craft Union Pub Company. 

Enterprise reports like-for-like growth, 60 managed pubs: Enterprise Inns has reported like-for-like net income growth of 1.5% in the leased and tenanted estate in the 25 weeks to 19 March 2016. The company is to launch of a new deal for publicans, the Enterprise Premium Tenancy, which will reduce property obligations and enhance capital investment. It reported rapid expansion of its quality commercial property portfolio – it has 245 commercial properties with an annualised average rental income of £58,000 per site. It has 60 managed pubs now trading under various formats and unveiled a new managed expert partnership announced with Laine Pub Group. It is initiating a new share buyback programme of up to £25 million (circa 6%) of the issued share capital of ETI. Chief executive Simon Townsend said: “It is close to a year since we announced our new strategic plan for the business and we are making good progress. Our leased and tenanted business, Enterprise Publican Partnerships, continues to deliver like-for-like net income growth and the expansion of our managed operations and commercial property portfolio is on track. We are confident that the delivery of our strategy will provide a clear path to maximising shareholder value and are today outlining a returns-based approach to the allocation of available capital. The announcement of a share buyback programme demonstrates our approach and underlines our confidence. We remain on track to meet our expectations for the full financial year and look forward to outlining the progress we have made in more detail later today.”