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Exclusive – TriSpan acquires stake in Mowgli: TriSpan, the global private equity firm, is to back the continued expansion of Mowgli, after acquiring a stake in the Nisha Katona-led, Indian street food concept, Propel has learned. Under the terms of the new investment, Katona MBE, and the 15-strong group’s management have maintained a “significant interest in the company”. Katona, who founded the business in 2014 in Liverpool, will continue to lead the group as chief executive in its next phase of growth, supported by TriSpan and the board. Matthew Peck and Lucy Worth will continue in their roles as chief financial officer and chief operating officer respectively. Robin Rowland OBE, TriSpan’s European operating partner, will chair the board. Dame Karen Jones, the company’s current chairperson, will remain on the board as a non-executive director. The deal sees Foresight, which invested in the then three-strong Mowgli in the summer of 2017, exit the business. It has gone on to become the leading Indian casual dining group in the UK. Propel revealed at the end of 2021 that Mowgli had appointed advisors at PwC to help review its funding options for its next stage of growth. The brand will open its next site in Brighton (Dukes Lane) on 24 February. It will be followed by an opening in Edinburgh (Hanover Street) in April. Further new sites in Bristol and Beverley (North Bar Within) will open later this summer. The Bristol site, on the former PizzaExpress in Corn Street, was secured back in 2021. It said it is “actively reviewing” other expansion opportunities around the UK. Speaking last year, Katona said that the 15-strong business had identified a second London site, in Richmond, as well as locations in Bath and Knutsford. She also namechecked Cambridge and Newcastle as other possible future locations for Mowgli. Commenting on the deal, Katona said: “Founding and growing Mowgli has been an unremitting joy for me. I soar with excitement when I think of the future possibilities for Mowgli and the way the public and our teams have embraced our food and our brand. TriSpan understands the elements that have made Mowgli, her food and her culture worthy of this affection and loyalty. They get it and always have, and I look forward to sharing the board table with colleagues that are committed to continuing to grow Mowgli with this delicious integrity at her heart.” Rowland said: “I have admired Mowgli for a number of years and am looking forward to working alongside Nisha and her proven management team and strong board to continue the evolution of this unique and loved brand, delivering authentic, fresh and exciting Indian cuisine.” TriSpan has invested in Mowgli through its dedicated restaurant program Rising Stars. It marks its tenth restaurant investment globally, and its fourth in the UK, following previous UK investments in Pho, Rosa’s Thai Café, and Thunderbird Fried Chicken – taking the total number of sites it backs here to circa 95. Debt financing for the Mowgli transaction has been provided by OakNorth Bank. TriSpan partners Fady Michel Abouchalache and Joseph Patrick Dib said: “We are proud to have been given the opportunity to partner with Nisha and her exceptional team during its next phase of growth. We are very excited at the prospect of bringing more Mowgli restaurants and their distinctive approach to Indian cuisine to more and more cities across the UK. This investment is once again testament to TriSpan’s commitment to the sector, especially in the face of the difficult macroeconomic environment present in the UK and globally.”

Mowgli features in Propel’s Turnover & Profits Blue Book – one of five databases exclusive to Premium subscribers. The Blue Book shows that in the year to 31 July 2021, Mowgli turned over £8,577,346 (2020: £11,300,379), with a pre-tax loss of £1,388,949 (2020: £1,287,857). The Blue Book is updated each month and ranks companies by turnover, profit and profit conversion, listing directors’ earnings for the past five years. 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 single subscription rate is £445 plus VAT for operators and £545 plus VAT for suppliers. Email jo.charity@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription.

Number of experiential concepts to feature in next edition of The New Openings Database, 12,700-word report included: A number of experiential concepts will feature in the next edition of The New Openings Database. The database will show the details of 256 newly announced site openings and upcoming launches for Premium subscribers when it is published on Friday (3 February), at midday, including which company has opened a site or its plans to open one in the future. It will have details on what type of site it is and its location, and there will also be a website link to the businesses. The database is published on a monthly basis, and the next edition features boutique bowling company, Lane7, which has opened the debut site for its family entertainment centre concept – Level X – in the St Enoch Centre in Glasgow. Also added this month is Boxpark, the hospitality and leisure operator, which is to open its sixth site – and first outside the capital for its eponymous brand – in Liverpool later this year. Meanwhile, The Park Playground, the now 13-strong Belgium-based, VR experience concept, founded in 2018, which has made its UK debut, in Leeds' Falcon House, will be featured. In addition, entertainment brand Pacha Group, which will open its debut UK site next month, with the launch of Lío London, in London’s Coventry Street, is included. Premium subscribers will also receive a 12,700-word report on the new additions to the database. Premium subscribers also receive access to four other databases: the Propel Multi-Site Database, produced in association with Virgate; the Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book; the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database; and the Who’s Who of UK Food and Beverage,which was sent to Premium subscribers for the first time last week. 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 single subscription rate is £445 plus VAT for operators and £545 plus VAT for suppliers. Email jo.charity@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription. Subscribers also receive access to Propel’s library of Friday Wrap interviews and 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 group editor Mark Wingett.

Caffè Nero reports return to pre-pandemic sales levels: Caffè Nero has returned to pre-pandemic sales in its core British business, culminating in December sales averaging 110% of pre-covid levels. In the half-year to November, it achieved UK sales of £150m, up 17% on the same period in 2021 and averaging 104% of its pre-pandemic levels. Like-for-like sales growth was also strong. For the key month of December, like-for-like sales grew by 9.5% year-on-year as the company served 7.8 million customers. In the week beginning on 5 December, the group reported record weekly sales of £7.9m. The company said it had been a “challenging period for costs”, but nonetheless it had opened seven new stores during the half-year and had experienced “a notable and encouraging increase” in several of its new sales channels. Caffè Nero founder and group chief executive Gerry Ford said: “We’ve seen a very encouraging first half of our financial year. Despite significant inflationary pressures which have continued to mount since June, we have demonstrated strong cost control and delivered solid sales growth. We traded at 110% of pre-pandemic sales in December and had record weekly sales. That is a testament to the hard work and outstanding service from our store teams as well as a very well received Christmas menu with our customers. We expect to see sales continue to improve further over the coming weeks and months.” Its delivery business was boosted by the addition of Deliveroo and Just Eat alongside its existing partnership with Uber Eats, generating £3.5m of revenue. Its Coffee At Home business generated sales for the same period of £1.5m, helped by a tie-up with Waitrose and retail partnerships with Amazon, Ocado, Sainsbury’s and the Ambassador Theatre Group. For the group including international stores, sales for the half-year reached £231m, up 20% on the previous year. In the financial year to May 2022, its UK sales jumped by 65% to £254m, while underlying earnings rose by 19% to £46.7m as covid restrictions were lifted. For the group, worldwide sales rose by 70% to £389m, with earnings up 50% to £57.7m. Ford stated: “FY22 was a period of recovery for the world and for our business. The figures from our FY22 accounts show the strong rebound our business made as the covid restrictions were gradually lifted. Our stores saw a significant uplift in sales reflecting pent-up demand from customers to eat and drink with us. Sales grew as the year progressed, which shows our brand strength and the desire of customers to come back in once health restrictions were lifted. The financial year also saw the continued expansion of our delivery and Coffee at Home channels, which remains a focus for us. All in all, I’m very pleased with the progress we made.”

Shaftesbury sees buoyant trading conditions over the festive period: Landlord Shaftesbury has reported that the sustained recovery in footfall and trading its previously reported continued into the important Christmas and New Year period. It said that whilst domestic visits to our villages were flat against December 2021, having been impacted by a series of rail strikes, footfall was buoyed by continued growth in international tourist numbers. Across its portfolio, the company said its hospitality, retail and leisure occupiers outperformed the wider West End during the period, reporting turnover on average 42% ahead of 2021, a period which had been affected by the Omicron covid variant, and 6% above 2019. Brian Bickell, chief executive, said: “London’s West End has seen buoyant footfall and trading throughout the important festive period, with occupier trading, on average, ahead of levels seen prior to the pandemic. This strong performance is in stark contrast to the more subdued spending and consumer confidence reported nationally. The appeal of our carefully-curated, ever-evolving and distinctive destinations in the heart of London’s West End to visitors and occupiers underpins our confidence in the resilience and long-term prospects of our exceptional portfolio.” The CMA phase 1 review of the proposed merger between Shaftesbury and rival landlord Capco is underway; deadline for its decision: 22 February 2023. The proposed merger expected to become effective during the current quarter, subject to satisfaction or, where applicable, waiver of outstanding conditions to the merger, including receiving CMA clearance.

Business confidence bounces back but interest rates will rise: British businesses have started the year with far more optimism, according to a new survey showing that confidence hit its highest level in six months in January. The Times writes the latest Lloyds Bank Business Barometer suggests that overall confidence among UK companies increased by five points to 22% this month, moving closer to the long-term average of 28%. Confidence is an important economic indicator and driver of growth, because the more optimistic companies feel, the more likely they are to invest. The Bank of England follows confidence measures closely to gauge when to raise interest rates. The Bank is expected to raise the base costs by half a percentage point on Thursday, which will push the rate to 4%. The increase in business confidence was driven by a more optimistic assessment of the wider economy, with almost half of the businesses surveyed expressing greater optimism. Hann-Ju Ho, a senior economist with Lloyds Bank commercial banking, said: “Business confidence continues to improve following the December boost. Firms are clearly more optimistic about the wider economy and this is driving the increase, helped by precursory signs and other cost pressures may be easing. It is still a tough environment for business, with high energy bills remaining a concern during the winter months, but there are grounds for optimism for 2023 if inflation starts to trend lower.” For a second month in a row confidence in the manufacturing and services sector grew, with manufacturing rising 15 points to 28% and services increasing by seven points to 25%. However, sentiment in the construction industry dipped two percentage points to 27% because of falling property prices and waning demand. Confidence in the retail sector fell for a second month in a row to 7%, the lowest level since February 2021, as high inflation and the associated cost of living squeeze pile the pressure on bosses and shoppers. By region, business confidence in the north west, north east, Wales, Northern Ireland and London was stronger, with companies in the capital being the most positive, rising 29 points to 37%.