Hi,

One publisher server, 27 publications, One distribution database.
I think you could be right , because I have also noticed that when the CPU spikes on the Publisher, the value of UndelivCmdsInDistDB column in distribution.dbo.MSdistribution_status is higher than normal.

I do not know how to setup replication with numerous distribution databases - any advise/URL you can recommend?
This will probably mean I will have to setup replication from scratch? So in the meantime, do you think indexes on the distribution database tables could help?