Drinkers have been kept out of beer gardens by the wet weather

Britain's biggest pub company predicts that the poor weather will knock 2-3% off its full year pre-tax profits, which will be announced on 8 November.

Punch has a strong presence in flood-hit areas such as the Midlands.

The better news for Punch is that it has seen "no significant impact" from the smoking ban that was introduced in England on 1 July this year.

"Disaggregating the smoking ban's impact from that of the summer's poor weather must be difficult and the ban will be tested more fully during the autumn and the winter," said Mark Brumby, an analyst from BlueOar.

"Clearly the wet summer derailed things a little but this is a relatively reassuring statement overall," he added.