London, April 18 - Britain's Punch Taverns Plc said on Friday it had ended talks with pub-owning rival Mitchells and Butlers Plc, confirming press speculation, because a deal would not be in shareholders' best interests.
Punch also said in a statement it would announce first-half results on April 24 and that it should meet market forecasts.
On Monday, M&B, the owner of Harvester and O'Neill's pubs and restaurants, turned the tables on its one-time suitor by saying it hoped to use private equity cash to buy Punch's managed pubs business.
Punch originally put forward plans to merge with M&B in February, shortly after M&B put itself up for sale when it announced a loss of nearly 400 million pounds on a failed 4.5 billion pound property deal.
After a closer look at M&B, and under pressure from shareholders, Punch pulled the proposals last month but hinted it would come back in a tie-up deal with other would-be buyers.