MORE than 100 jobs are set go as a result of the £1.19bn takeover of North-East pubs company Pubmaster.

Hartlepool-based Pubmaster was taken over by rival Punch Taverns in December.

The deal made Punch the biggest pubs company in the country but last night the group said it had launched a 90-day consultation with 131 staff.

The majority are based at Pubmaster's Teesside head office although some jobs are also set to go at four satellite offices in Bromsgrove, Ipswich, Sheffield and Warrington.

The group is closing the offices and merging their operations into its head office at Burton on Trent, Staffordshire.

A Punch spokeswoman said the group would try to relocate staff to the Burton head office ''wherever possible''.

But she said anyone unable to move would be offered redundancy.

''Existing Pubmaster redundancy terms will be honoured and Punch will provide full support to those staff affected throughout the process,'' a statement from the group said.

Punch completed the acquisition of Pubmaster in December, increasing the size of its own pub estate by about two thirds to 7,386 pubs.

Last month, it announced it was selling 252 of Pubmaster's outlets to ease regulatory concerns about the takeover.

Yesterday Punch said the integration of the two businesses was under way and progressing well.

The group said it expected full integration to take six months to complete, resulting in good opportunities to develop the enlarged business and to make cost savings. ''Both businesses are performing well, in line with management expectations and trading conditions continue to be favourable,'' Punch said. The group said it continued to improve its pub portfolio, investing £16.1 million in 213 development schemes, buying 38 pubs and selling 27 since the start of the financial year.

In the 16 weeks to December 13, like-for-like turnover growth in the existing Punch estate was 2%.

Group chief executive Giles Thorley called 2003 ''an excellent year for Punch''.

''We now have a larger, high-quality estate of core UK pubs, run by retail professionals serving their local communities and a robust business model that continues to deliver strong results,'' he said. ''We begin 2004 with confidence and optimism.''

Punch is due to report interim results in late April. Broker Arbuthnot expects the firm to post annual pre-tax profits of £148.5 million in 2004, against £112.5 million last time.