Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — Regent Inns Plc, the U.K. owner of the Walkabout pub chain, said first-half profit fell 71 percent after an English ban on smoking in bars and pressure on incomes hurt spending.

Net income dropped to 599,000 pounds ($1.2 million), or 0.5 penny a share, in the 26 weeks ended Dec. 29 from 2.06 million pounds, or 1.8 pence, a year earlier, the London-based company said today in a statement. Sales rose 4.2 percent to 76 million pounds and fell 3.8 percent at outlets open at least a year.

Source: Bloomberg. Link

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