News in brief: No cheers as sales slip at Punch pubs, Rockhopper teams up with Premier Oil, G4S in £8.2m deal to buy Deposita

Sales at Punch Taverns’ mainstream pubs are down by 5% over the last four months as trading becomes increasingly difficult with drinkers staying at home.

The country’s largest pub chain said that this was in line with its forecasts and predicted a return to growth next year. It expects to sell around 400 of its non-core pubs this year and said it still believes it can achieve a substantial financial restructuring to cut its £2 billion of debt.

Rockhopper teams up with Premier Oil

The chairman of Falkland Islands oil explorer Rockhopper, Pierre Jungels, said he could “begin to address the under-performance of the current share price” following a deal to partner Premier Oil on its key Sea Lion development in July. Rockhopper is the only explorer to find commercial quantities of oil off the Falklands but its share price is down by more than 40% this year. Its shares fell by 1p to 189.0p.

G4S in £8.2m deal to buy Deposita

G4S is back on the acquisition trail following its embarrassing Olympic debacle earlier this year. The security group has agreed to pay £8.2 million for South African rival Deposita, giving it the opportunity to expand in nearby markets such as Botswana, Malawi, Kenya and Namibia. The deal comes several months after the company admitted it could not provide enough security staff for the London 2012 Games, provoking a national outcry.