Time Out signs to open 19,250 square foot market in London: Time Out Group, the global multi-platform media and e-commerce business with food & cultural markets, has signed a conditional lease agreement for a new Time Out Market in London. The site, in Commercial Street, Shoreditch, is the first Time Out Market in London, following the success of its flagship market in Lisbon, which opened in May 2014, and its newly signed lease in Porto. In the first six months of 2016, the Lisbon market reported strong year-on-year pro forma revenue growth of 106%, record levels of visitors (1.3 million) and has been Ebitda positive in each month of the current financial year. Time Out Market brings together under one roof the vibe of a city: its best restaurants, bars, shops and cultural experiences, based on Time Out’s editorial curation. The London location is expected to have a footprint of 19,250 square feet, accommodating 450 seats, 17 restaurants as well as a Cooking Academy, four bars, one shop and one art gallery. Time Out Group will provide tenants with the facilities, equipment and support services in exchange for a share of revenues, while bars will be directly managed by the group. The opening of the first Time Out Market in London is anticipated during the second half of 2017. With plans for new markets progressing well in New York and Miami, the group is making significant progress in rolling out the highly successful Time Out Market format which is part of the group’s growth strategy outlined at the time of its IPO. These efforts will expand Time Out’s international presence and raise the profile of the brand, which currently has a monthly global digital audience reach of 137 million. Time Out Group chief executive Julio Bruno said: “I’m absolutely delighted to announce that we will be bringing our unique Time Out Market format to London. This is not only one of the world’s most vibrant and exciting cities, but also the birthplace of our iconic brand. Opening a Time Out Market here is an incredible milestone for our brand and our growth strategy. Inspiring and enabling people to experience the best of a city is at the heart of everything we do. Now we’re bringing this ethos to life in Time Out Market, which we believe Londoners and visitors are going to love. It will be a uniquely designed location to capture the very soul of this great city.” Didier Souillat, chief executive of Time Out Market, added: “Since 1968 Londoners have relied on Time Out to help them discover what this amazing city has to offer. With Time Out Market we’re taking this to the next level as we will bring together under one roof London’s finest cuisine, best cocktails and cultural experiences, based on the editorial curation we’ve always been known for. Our focus is to work with London restaurateurs, mixologists, artists, and provide them with the opportunity to showcase their talent in a different, hot and eclectic part of town, Shoreditch, in a space full of character, at the heart of the local community.”

 

Domino’s Pizza reports UK like-for-likes up 3.9%: Domino’s Pizza has reported UK like-for-like sales grew 3.9% in the 13 weeks to 25 December 2015. Sales rose 10.5% to £220.9m, compared with the previous year. The company now expects to open 80 new stores in 2016, up from the previous figure of 70. The group reported sales increased 11.5% to £237.0m. The company stated: “Trading in the core UK business was strong, driven by continued investment in our digital platform and store opening programme. System sales in the UK increased by 10.5%, supported by the 21 new stores opened in the period, bringing the total year to date to 51. Of these, 34 were stores where the trading area was split between units. Working with our franchisees on their store openings remains one of the key planks of our strategy, with our current total of 920 stores still leaving substantial growth capacity. As indicated at our half year results, we are facing some very tough comparators in the second half of the year, with like-for-likes in quarter three 2015 at 14.9% and quarter three 2016 at 3.9%. Our two-year like-for-like sales growth in quarter three was robust at 19.4%. System sales through digital channels were strongly ahead, up 18.1% compared with quarter three last year. Over 81% of delivered sales in the year to date have been online, with 64% placed through the app or mobile website. We continue to be encouraged by the third quarter results in Ireland where the strong like-for-like sales growth of 7.6% is benefiting from the increasing trend towards digital ordering and the growing economy. In Switzerland, total sales have increased by 16.7%. This increase came despite being unable to offer carry out due to a local licensing issue in two stores. Excluding these, we showed strong like-for-like sales growth of 7.6%, although with them included, like-for-like sales were flat. We expect this licence issue to be resolved soon. Iceland and Norway continue to perform strongly in the period with system sales growth of 17.5% and 124.8% respectively. Expansion continues with one store opened in Iceland and three new units in Norway in the year. We expect to open our first Swedish store before the end of the year. The German joint venture continues to perform in line with expectations. The comparatives remain challenging, but the continued strong sales performance means the board is confident our forecast full year results will be in line with market expectations. Given the strong new store performance of the business in the third quarter, we raise our UK openings expectation from 70 to up to 80 new outlets in 2016.” Chief executive David Wild added: “The business continues to trade well with a strong sales uplift across the group during the period. As highlighted at our interim results in July, we face tough comparatives in the second half of the year, but our continued investment in e-commerce, our international expansion and the launch of our new Italiano range taking us to new customers, will help to drive performance for the remainder of the year. Our new store programme provides a strong platform for future growth. On 10 October, we welcomed to the group Rachel Osborne as an executive director and chief financial officer of the company. We shall provide a more detailed update on our long-term plans at our Capital Markets Day in London on 24 November.”

 

Marston’s reports like-for-likes in Destination & Premium up 2.3%: Marston’s has reported like-for-like sales in its Destination & Premium division were up 2.3% for the year ending 1 October. The company, which will announce its preliminary results on 24 November, saw food like-for-like sales growth of 1.7% and wet like-for-like sales growth of 2.3%, underpinned by strong growth in room income. In the last ten weeks of the period, like-for-like sales have grown 1.8%. The company said: “We have made good progress this year with underlying profit before tax in line with management expectations. Operating margin is in line with last year and we completed 22 new pubs and bars and six lodges in the financial year just ended. In the 2017 financial year we plan to open at least 22 pubs and bars and at least five lodges with the openings programme weighted towards the second half year. We continue to have a good pipeline of sites to maintain similar levels of expansion for the foreseeable future. In Taverns, like-for-like sales were 2.7% ahead of last year, with growth of 2.0% in the last ten weeks including a strong performance in our franchise estate. In Leased, like-for-like profits are estimated to be up 2% compared with last year. In Brewing, our beer brands have performed very strongly, with own-brand volumes up 13% for the financial year and profits in line with management expectations.” Chief executive Ralph Findlay added: “Marston’s has delivered another year of solid progress with underlying growth across all of our pub divisions and continued outstanding performance from our market-leading beer business. Trading has continued at similar levels since the year end which is encouraging. In addition, our new pub-restaurants, lodges and Revere premium pubs all continue to perform well. Looking forward, our estate is well balanced and we have a well-developed, strong pipeline of sites to continue our current level of expansion.”

 

Hollywood Bowl Group reports like-for-likes up 6.4%: Hollywood Bowl Group, the UK’s largest ten-pin bowling operator has reported like-for-likes were up 6.4% for the year ended 30 September 2016. The company, which started trading on the main stock market in August, has a portfolio of 54 centres operating across the UK under the Hollywood Bowl, AMF and Bowlplex brands. Total revenues including the Bowlplex sites were up 22.0% against the prior year. The company, which plans to announce its preliminary results on 13 December stated: “The strong like-for-like performance has been driven by growth in the core estate, the centre refurbishment programme, an improved food and beverage offer and higher amusement spend. The acquisition of Bowlplex has continued to be successful, with the integration progressing as anticipated and the initial returns from the first three rebrandings continuing to deliver above original expectations. The company has a good pipeline of new centres in place, and is on schedule to open in the Southampton Watermark development during December. The refurbishment programme continues to progress well with the Brighton rebrand due to be completed in time for the Christmas trading period.” Chief executive Stephen Burns added: “We are pleased to report another successful year for Hollywood Bowl Group. We have traded very well through the year and the customer response to our investments and offer has been encouraging. We continue to make good progress with our refurbishment and Bowlplex rebranding programme. The board believes Hollywood Bowl has a very promising future and is focused on capitalising on the growth opportunities ahead as a listed company.”