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Unique boss to quit Enterprise Inns

The managing director of the Unique Pub Company is to leave the business after it was bought by Enterprise Inns.

Graham Turner will step down at the end of the month following Enterprise’s successful integration of Unique, which it took over earlier this year.

The company did not give a reason for Mr Turner’s departure, although a spokeswoman said it had been “widely anticipated.”

Enterprise said it was a credit to Mr Turner and his team that the drive to integrate Unique’s estate of nearly 4,000 pubs into its business had been successful.

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It came as Enterprise - now the UK’s largest pubs group - revealed that trading was “comfortably” in line with expectations.

The Solihull-based group said the integration of Unique was proceeding to plan, and that it remained confident of achieving cost savings in the region of £25 million.

Enterprise now operates some 9,000 unbranded pubs in the UK after the acquisition nearly doubled its estate.

Its core business continued to perform well, with the operating profit per pub estimated to have increased by around 8 per cent over the previous year.

The group is due to post results for the year to September 30 in November.

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Ted Tuppen, the Enterprise Inns chief executive, said that it had already been agreed that the directors of Unique would leave at the “appropriate time”.

He said the departure of Mr Turner confirmed that the integration process was on track.

Enterprise had managed to buck the recent disappointing trading reported by other pub chains due to the quality of its unbranded pubs estate, Mr Tuppen added.

The firm said its full year results would include a six-month contribution from Unique, which was trading in line with hopes.

All administrative systems have been transferred to the Enterprise head office in Solihull, with full integration set to be complete by March next year.

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Enterprise shares rose 1.5p to 590p.