STAFF at two of Southampton's leading watering holes were today keeping a watchful eye on the dramatic turn of events involving their parent company.

Troubled bars operator Regent Inns dealt a fresh blow to investors by delaying its annual results in the wake of accounting problems.

Shares plunged more than 20 per cent yesterday after the owner of the Walkabout chain admitted it had failed to meet strict procedures set out in its loan deals.

Regent owns the Walkabout chain, including the one in the High Street, Southampton.

It also runs the Bar Risa/Jongleurs chain, with a premises just a stone's throw away from the Australian-theme Walkabout.

The latest Regent setback comes just four days after they parted company with chief executive Stephen Haupt and finance director Simon Rowe.

Talks are now taking place with lenders to resolve the matter and Regent said its results for the year to July 3 would not be published until the issue was sorted out.

A positive resolution would enable the group to report that its trading performance and net debt were in line with market hopes, Regent said in a statement. Shareholders in Regent Inns have seen the value of their investments plunge this year, with shares halving in value in the wake of two profits warnings in the past six months.

Analysts had expected the group to report a 19 per cent fall in annual profits to £11.7m and make a deep cut in the final dividend to 1.68p from 3.36p last year.

Regent, which also runs the Stone House chain, warned in July that its full-year results would show a 5.4 per cent fall in like-for-like sales at its branded operations.

Signs of a turnaround in trading emerged today with the company reporting that like-for-like sales were ahead by one per cent in the ten weeks since July 3.

Nigel Popham, an analyst at City stockbroker Teather & Greenwood, said the sharp fall in Regent's share price was to be expected.

He said: "People are taking a cautious viewand you can't blame them."