'Error' holds up pub chain results

PUBS operator Regent Inns is to announce a new reporting date for its results in the next couple of weeks following investigations into its accounts.

The company was due to report its annual results last month, but they were postponed after its auditor, Ernst & Young, was asked by the company's non-executive directors to check a discrepancy with its interest rates. However a source close to proceedings said it was an error that was 'accidental and immaterial.'

A separate investigation by corporate investigator Kroll into the company's management accounts, including cashflows, is also expected to finish this week.

Regent Inns, owners of the Walkabout and Jongleurs chains, ousted chief executive Stephen Haupt and finance director Simon Rowe last month after investor concern over its falling share price.

A month on, severance pay has yet to be agreed. A source said: 'They have nothing to do with any financial irregularities and as far as they are concerned, they are still on gardening leave and have yet to resolve the question of compensation.'