NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF SUCH JURISDICTION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

9 January 2024

The City Pub Group plc

(City Pubs or the Company)

Transaction in own shares and rule 2.9 announcement

City Pubs announces the transfer of 125,000 ordinary shares of 1 penny each (Option Shares) out of treasury and the subsequent sale of the Option Shares in connection with the vesting and exercise of awards previously granted under The City Pub Group plc Company Share Option Plan. The vesting and exercise of such awards are part of a pre-existing obligation of City Pubs, prior to the commencement of the offer period entered into by City Pubs on 16 November 2023 under the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the Code).

The details of the dealing is as follows:

In accordance with Rule 2.9 of the Code, City Pubs confirms that, as at the date of this announcement, it had in issue 104,843,151 ordinary shares of 1 penny each (Ordinary Shares) (excluding Ordinary Shares held in treasury). There are also 1,450,279 Ordinary Shares held in treasury.

The International Securities Identification Number code for the Company's Ordinary Shares is GB00BYWRS683.

In accordance with Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (the Market Abuse Regulation), the schedule below contains detailed information about the sales made by Equiniti Limited on behalf of City Pubs.

Enquiries

Further information

Houlihan Lokey UK Limited ("Houlihan Lokey"), which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority, is acting exclusively as financial adviser to City Pubs and no one else in connection with this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than City Pubs for providing the protections afforded to clients of Houlihan Lokey or for providing advice in relation to any matters referred to in this announcement. Neither Houlihan Lokey nor any of its affiliates owes or accepts any duty, liability, or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is not a client of Houlihan Lokey in connection with this Announcement, any statement contained herein or otherwise.

Liberum Capital Limited ("Liberum"), which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority, is acting exclusively to City Pubs and no one else in connection with this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than City Pubs for providing the protections afforded to clients of Liberum or for providing advice in relation to any matters referred to in this announcement. Neither Liberum nor any of its affiliates owes or accepts any duty, liability, or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is not a client of Liberum in connection with this announcement, any statement contained herein or otherwise.

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited ("Panmure Gordon"), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom, is acting exclusively for City Pubs and no one else in connection with this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than City Pubs for providing the protections afforded to clients of Panmure Gordon nor for providing advice in relation to any matters referred to in this announcement. Neither Panmure Gordon nor any of its affiliates owes or accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is not a client of Panmure Gordon in connection with this announcement, any statement contained herein or otherwise.

Disclosure requirements of the Code

Under Rule 8.3(a) of the Code, any person who is interested in one (1) per cent. or more of any class of relevant securities of an offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror (being any offeror other than an offeror in respect of which it has been announced that its offer is, or is likely to be, solely in cash) must make an Opening Position Disclosure following the commencement of the Offer Period and, if later, following the announcement in which any securities exchange offeror is first identified.

An Opening Position Disclosure must contain details of the person's interests and short positions in, and rights to subscribe for, any relevant securities of each of (i) the offeree company and (ii) any securities exchange offeror(s). An Opening Position Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(a) of the Code applies must be made by no later than 3.30 p.m. (London time) on the tenth (10^th) Business Day following the commencement of the Offer Period and, if appropriate, by no later than 3.30 p.m. (London time) on the tenth (10^th) Business Day following the announcement in which any securities exchange offeror is first identified. Relevant persons who deal in the relevant securities of the offeree company or of a securities exchange offeror prior to the deadline for making an Opening Position Disclosure must instead make a Dealing Disclosure.

Under Rule 8.3(b) of the Code, any person who is, or becomes, interested in one (1) per cent. or more of any class of relevant securities of the offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror must make a Dealing Disclosure if the person deals in any relevant securities of the offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror. A Dealing Disclosure must contain details of the dealing concerned and of the person's interests and short positions in, and rights to subscribe for, any relevant securities of each of (i) the offeree company and (ii) any securities exchange offeror, save to the extent that these details have previously been disclosed under Rule 8 of the Code. A Dealing Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(b) of the Code applies must be made by no later than 3.30 p.m. (London time) on the Business Day following the date of the relevant dealing.

If two or more persons act together pursuant to an agreement or understanding, whether formal or informal, to acquire or control an interest in relevant securities of an offeree company or a securities exchange offeror, they will be deemed to be a single person for the purpose of Rule 8.3 of the Code.

Opening Position Disclosures must also be made by the offeree company and by any offeror and Dealing Disclosures must also be made by the offeree company, by any offeror and by any persons acting in concert with any of them (see Rules 8.1, 8.2 and 8.4 of the Code).

Details of the offeree and offeror companies in respect of whose relevant securities Opening Position Disclosures and Dealing Disclosures must be made can be found in the Disclosure Table on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk, including details of the number of relevant securities in issue, when the Offer Period commenced and when any offeror was first identified. You should contact the Panel's Market Surveillance Unit on +44 (0)20 7638 0129 if you are in any doubt as to whether you are required to make an Opening Position Disclosure or a Dealing Disclosure.

Publication on a website

In accordance with Rule 26.1 of the Code, a copy of this announcement and the documents required to be published under Rule 26 of the Code, will be made available free of charge (subject to certain restrictions relating to persons resident in Restricted Jurisdictions) on Young's website at https://www.youngs.co.uk/investors and City Pubs' website at https://www.citypubcompany.com/investors/, by no later than 12 noon (London time) on the Business Day following this announcement. The content of any website referred to in this announcement is not incorporated into and does not form part of this announcement.

Requesting hard copy documents

In accordance with Rule 30.3 of the Code, City Pubs Shareholders, persons with information rights and participants in City Pubs Share Plans may request a hard copy of this announcement (and any information incorporated by reference in this announcement) by contacting Equiniti during business hours on +44 (0) 371 384 2030.

For persons who receive a copy of this announcement in electronic form or via a website notification, a hard copy of this announcement will not be sent unless so requested. Such persons may also request that all future documents, announcements and information be sent to them in relation to the Transaction should be in hard copy form.