Pontins returns to man who built it

S&N is to concentrate on its retail and brewing businesses

Brewing giant Scottish & Newcastle is in advanced talks to sell its Pontins holiday complexes back to the man it bought them from.

S&N chairman Brian Stewart announced on Thursday that the company is in advanced negotiations to sell Pontins to a firm linked to Trevor Hemmings, the mechanic-turned entrepreneur behind the leisure operator's growth in the 1970s.

The brewer also plans to sell the Center Parcs holiday village chain, valued by analysts at about £800m, to a Franco-German consortium.

Brian Stewart: Confident of future growth

Scottish & Newcastle plans to transform its business, leaving the leisure industry and focusing on its retail and brewing business, Mr Stewart told the company's annual meeting.

"We are making substantial progress in all of these areas... and are confident that the completion of this transformation will deliver shareholder returns," Mr Stewart said.

The builder who developed Pontins

Mr Hemmings became involved in Pontins in the late 1960s when he won a contract to construct the firm's holiday camp in Southport.

He sold his building firm for £1.5m and bought Pontins which he developed and sold to S&N.

Mr Hemmings' other leisure interests include stakes in racecourse owner Arena Leisure, Vymura, the wallpaper group, and an estate of 800 pubs.

He was behind the purchase of Blackpool Tower from First Leisure two years ago, the purchase of 361 S&N pubs for £100m in March and the acquisition of Littlewood's lesiure division, including the football pools business, for £161m in June.

The Pontins sale would include eight holiday centres and a head office.

The sale of Center Parcs would see Deutsche Bank take over the chain's UK villages. The bank would team up with French leisure firm Pierre & Vacances running sites on the Continent.

Center Parcs, launched in Holland in the 1960s, includes complexes in Belgium, France and Germany besides the UK sites in Wiltshire, Nottinghamshire and Suffolk. The villages on average includes 650 villas.