Nightcap reports 23 sites in legals or under offer, to focus on female-led socialising: Bar operator Nightcap has reported it has 23 sites in legals or under offer. Chief executive Sarah Willingham said: “The performance of the Tonight Josephine and Blame Gloria brands has led to us narrowing our focus on finding sites for these two brands. We think both brands have a large untapped demand for female-led socialising in welcoming, safe environments around the country. These large indoor venues are complemented by Bar Elba and Luna Springs, which fit our strategy to add additional large outdoor bar and event spaces to the group. The business has a number of sites in legal negotiations or under offer across the country and I am excited to see the roll out of these iconic brands into more and more cities across the UK. While we are pleased with our acquisitions to date we continue to seek additional high-quality businesses in the bar and late-night space to add to the portfolio. We are looking for well run businesses and brands, who with additional investment can realise their national roll-out potential. We have made extremely good progress on building a pipeline of new bar sites for both businesses. Our management teams have been travelling around the UK looking for new properties. I remain extremely positive and excited about our future and our ability for rapid and sustainable growth. We are starting to see some of these new site openings for The Cocktail Club, with sites in Bristol, Reading and in the City of London all opening their doors to customers during November. In addition, post year-end, the business launched its second Blame Gloria site in London, replacing the group's original Adventure Bar site in Clapham Junction and bringing one of Covent Garden's most unique cocktail bars to the heart of south west London. The rebrand has resulted in a significant uplift in sales, re-enforcing our commitment to the roll out of this brand. We are currently rebranding the other Adventure Bar in Clapham to a Tonight Josephine, which will not only soak up some excess demand from the Waterloo sister site, but we also anticipate another additional uplift in sales from this site as a direct result of the rebrand. In addition to the three new sites we have a further 23 sites in legal negotiations or under offer across the group's brands. I am very happy with the rate at which we are progressing our organic growth.” The company reported turnover of £5,968,667 in the 52 weeks to 27 June (2020: £5,196,710) and a loss before tax of £5,296,437 (2020: £616,301).

Latest edition of Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book now available to Premium subscribers: The latest edition of the Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book, which is produced in association with Mapal Group, is now available to Premium subscribers. A further 31 companies have been added, taking the number of UK pub, restaurant, cafe and hotel operators featured to 456, with a total turnover of £30.2bn. The Blue Book, which is updated every month – on the second Friday of the month – has begun to reflect the economic damage of the pandemic with 191 companies reporting a profit and 265 reporting losses. The Blue Book provides an insight into UK operator turnover and profitability over five years, profit conversion and directors’ earnings. Premium subscribers also receive two other databases – the New Openings Database, produced in association with StarStock, and the Multi-Site Operators Database, produced in association with Virgate, which are also updated each month. Subscribers also receive access to Propel’s library of lockdown videos and Friday Wrap interviews and now also have access to a curated video library of the sector’s finest leaders and entrepreneurs, offering their insights on running outstanding businesses in the sector. Premium subscribers also receive their morning newsletter 11 hours early, at 7pm the evening before our 6am send-out; regular video content and regular exclusive columns from Propel insights editor Mark Wingett. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Propel Premium for a year for £895 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier. The regular single subscription rate of £395 plus VAT for operators and £495 plus VAT for suppliers remains the same. To subscribe, email jo.charity@propelinfo.com

Cineworld reports October revenues in UK 127% above 2019: Cineworld, the second largest cinema exhibitor in the world, has reported UK and Ireland revenue in October was 127% of 2019’s figure. The company stated: “Since reopening our estate in April 2021, performance and attendances have steadily grown. Customer demand has been particularly strong in a number of the group's markets, in some cases even above the levels experienced in 2019. This recovery has been driven by an excellent slate of movies including ‘Black Widow’, ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’, ‘Venom’, ‘No Time to Die’ and ‘Dune’. There are still major blockbusters to be released in 2021 including ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’, ‘Encanto’, ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, ‘The King's Man’, ‘Sing 2’ and ‘The Matrix Resurrections’, which we anticipate will perform very well subject to there being no deterioration in the covid-19 situation. This revenue performance has been underpinned by discipline on costs where the company has been focused on streamlining operations wherever possible, although we have seen some inflationary cost increases. As a result of this improvement in revenue and the cost measures implemented, the group generated positive cash flow in October, an important milestone in the company's recovery.” Chief executive Mooky Greidinger said: "We are thrilled to see audiences returning in significant numbers. Our partnerships with the studios are as strong as ever and with the incredible movie slate to come, there are real grounds for optimism in our industry. I would especially highlight the great performances we saw from our newly refurbished cinemas in the US. These new cinemas clearly support our strategy to enhance the cinema experience for all our customers. I am really proud of the extraordinary efforts that everybody in the business has made to manage this company during an unprecedented time. While there are challenges ahead, I believe these efforts have positioned us for great success in the future and we are all looking forward to continuing to welcome our customers to the best place to watch a movie.”