Pub closures hit Vianet's first-half revenues

Vianet's revenue fell in the first half after pub closures reduced the number of venues using its beer monitoring service.

Revenue for the six months to the end of September fell to £6.71m from £7.06m as pub closures caused a net reduction of 550 venues for Vianet's "smart zones" business, which monitors the flow and temperature of beer to improve quality and reduce waste.

Group adjusted operating profit rose 4% to £1.7m as Vianet cut costs. Equivalent profit at the smart zones business fell to £2.27m from £2.39m.

Pubs are closing at a rate of 29 a week in the UK as consumers buy cheaper beer and wine from supermarkets to drink at home, figures from the Campaign for Real Ale show. The 550 reduction in venues for the smart zones business took total sites to 14,000 at the end of the first half. The business added 119 beer monitoring devices, down from 166 a year earlier.

Vianet uses the internet-of-things to monitor and produce data on its customers' business operations. It said underlying trading had improved from a year earlier and the company had opportunities to sell more data services to pub companies in addition to beer monitoring.

But the shares fell 11.4% to 120.5p at 09:30 GMT as investors digested the results. A trading statement in late September had said first-half trading was ahead of the year before.

Chairman James Dickson said: "The board remains confident that Vianet's long term strategy is appropriate and that the group is capable of delivering consistent and sustained growth within the parameters of its influence and control."