Stonegate - comment
A £1bn deal at £800k per pub suggests a bias towards city centre pubs. Stonegate has been vocal about the impact of inflation on the pub business, most recently in its FY Trading update. Inflation is an industry problem, so who is buying these pubs at a price that significantly reduces leverage for Stonegate in the current environment? It would point to more serious underlying issues in the business. We are sceptical about a transaction of this size being feasible right now.