It's cloudy at Adnams as profits dive 80%

Chief executive Jonathan Adnams said the Chancellor's excise raids, rising costs and the smoking ban have all hit the group in its East Anglian heartland - but not as much as rising petrol prices and the falling cost of supermarket booze.

Less than 10% of Adnams' beer is sold in the off-trade, something it knows it must change. On-trade sales of cask beer slumped 7.8%, while in a wider market pub beer sales fell 9.8% in 2008.