M&B forced to defend cash position

All Bar One and O'Neill's operator Mitchells & Butlers has refuted claims it is out of money, after one City analyst said today it "could require a cash injection" to keep going.

Its share price fell by 18% this morning after Lehman Brothers analyst Julian Easthope said the operator of approximately 2,500 pubs had a very weak financial position.

M&B, which has been left reeling from multimillion-pound losses made on hedging around an aborted property deal, is currently tipped to be taken over as a result, possibly by rival pub company Punch Taverns.

M&B responded in a statement to the stock market that all the necessary funding was in place to support its investment programme and it had "no requirement for any capital injection to meet its existing funding needs".

The pub company said it would more details about its financial performance in May once it has concluded a strategic review but added trading was "resilient, with buoyant food sales".

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By Christopher Walton

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