Next edition of Propel’s Turnover & Profits Blue Book to feature updated figures for 67 companies: The next edition of Propel’s Turnover & Profits Blue Book will feature updated figures for 67 companies. Premium subscribers will receive the next edition of the Blue Book tomorrow (Friday, 11 August), at midday. It now features 745 companies that are turning over a total of £50.6bn. A total of 509 companies are making a profit while 236 are making a loss. The profit being made by sector companies is now outstripping losses by £1.33bn. The Blue Book shows the total profit of the 745 companies in the list is £3,272,517,901 and losses are £2,761,785,504. The Blue Book is updated each month and ranks companies by turnover, profit and profit conversion, listing directors’ earnings for the past five years. Premium subscribers also receive access to five other databases: the Propel Multi-Site Database, produced in association with Virgate; the New Openings Database; the Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book; the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database; and the Who’s Who of UK Food and Beverage. This month, Propel will launch the UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Database – the first time that profiles of 100 of the top food and beverage franchisees have been available in one place in the UK. The go-to database – which will be released on Wednesday, 16 August and features many of the big franchise operators running Costa Coffee, McDonald’s and Domino’s sites – brings together a wealth of information on an increasingly important part of the market, and the first edition will feature more than 32,000 words of content. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Propel Premium for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier. The single subscription rate is £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Email jo.charity@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription. Premium subscribers are also being given exclusive access to the recording and slides to Propel Multi-Club Conferences. They also receive their morning newsletter 11 hours early, at 7pm the evening before; regular video content and regular exclusive columns from Propel group editor Mark Wingett.

Leon sees ‘improved trading’ in first half of 2023 after losses narrow: Natural fast food brand Leon said it has seen “improved trading” in the first half of 2023 after its losses narrowed in the year to 26 December 2021. Pre-tax losses were down from £12,878,428 in 2020 to £9,177,342. Director Zuber Issa, in his statement accompanying the accounts, said: “Management remain confident that sales will recover, and is supported by continual improvement seen throughout 2022 and the first half of 2023.” Turnover improved from £33,473,793 in 2020 to £37,515,376, of which £852,887 was franchise income (2020: £1,070,686). Issa added: “The impact of the pandemic continued to affect trading in the year. The UK started 2021 in lockdown, and as restrictions were lifted, trade improved. Throughout 2021 Leon’s revenue continued to recover, although still below the levels seen in 2019. Working-from-home has impacted many Leon restaurants, particularly ones based in office centric locations, and these have seen a slower recovery.” In the last full year before the pandemic, ending 29 December 2019, Leon reported turnover of £76,272,083 and a pre-tax loss of £1,080,322. Since then, it has been through a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), which it entered into in December 2020 and exited in December 2022. “The impact of the CVA was to reduce the committed fixed rent liability and move to towards a turnover rent-based methodology for the next two financial periods,” the company said. “This has enabled the board to stabilise the business and plan a return to growth in the UK home market.” During the period, Leon Restaurants was acquired by the Issa brothers’ EG Group and disposed of its shareholding in Leon USA, as the business focused on the UK market. It said the business will “continue our UK expansion and to develop the brand in new markets and new formats” and that “the board still believe that the opportunity still exists to take Leon to the USA in the future”. The period also saw five Leon-owned openings (2020: three), together with two new franchise units (2020: six). There were three owned restaurant closures plus two dark kitchen locations (2020: nil), along with two franchise closures (2020: four). The net asset position at the end of the financial period totalled £5,494,147 (2020: net liabilities of £1,340,715). Exceptional expenses for the period included acquisition related bonuses and fees (£2,030,000), impairment of fixed assets (£2,149,609), USA exit fees (£539,000) and reorganisation costs (£335,000). It received £1,145,304 in government grants compared to £6,359,648 in 2020. All bank loans were repaid in full at the time of the takeover.

Majestic partners with Uber Eats: Specialist wine retailer Majestic has partnered with Uber Eats to accelerate its on-demand delivery ambitions. The partnership has launched from an initial eight Majestic stores (Birmingham, Brighton, Cambridge, Clapham, Esher, Notting Hill, St John’s Wood and Westbury-on-Trym) and will roll out to a total of 177 stores by the end of October. The new partnership comes as Majestic seeks to build on the online growth it has experienced since the pandemic and capitalise on the growing shift from its customers towards local delivery. Majestic’s ecommerce sales accounted for more than 20% of retail revenues in 2022/23. Majestic chief operating officer Rob Cooke said: “Our mission at Majestic is to help people discover and buy wines, beers and spirits they will love, and this partnership with Uber Eats will allow us to deliver to even more households whenever they need us.”

 

Visiting country pubs and eating fish and chips on the beach among favourite elements of UK staycations: Visiting country pubs and eating fish and chips on the beach are among the favourite elements of UK staycations, according to a new poll. Of the 2,000 people surveyed by WeBuyAnyCar, nearly half said the best bit of a staycation is the chance to visit a country pub with a leafy beer garden, with eating fish and chips on the beach the second favourite thing. Around a third said renting a cottage by the sea was the best thing to do, while the same number said nothing beats a cream tea in an old-fashioned tea room. The poll also revealed that as many as 72% of Britons have had or will have a holiday in the UK this year, with exploring the country the top reason for doing so.

Fire that burnt down Britain’s wonkiest pub being treated as arson: A fire that burnt down Britain’s wonkiest pub is being treated as arson, police have confirmed. The Crooked House in Himley, near Dudley, known for its lopsided structure  caused by mining subsidence in the 19th century, caught fire on Saturday night. The former Marston’s pub was demolished on Monday, with a council spokesman saying that “at no point” was the entire structure ordered to be bulldozed. Staffordshire Police said a “robust investigation” is ongoing and that it is in contact with the owners of the site, while the cause of the fire is still unknown, reports The Telegraph. An application for the pub, which was built as a farmhouse in the 1760s, to be given listed building status had been made a week before the fire. The Crooked House site was in the care of the current owners during the demolition, police confirmed on Tuesday. The owners are understood to be Carly Taylor and her husband Adam Taylor, who own a portfolio of sites and business properties in the area. Ms Taylor bought the Crooked House from Marston’s in July and it had been listed for sale for £675,000, The Telegraph said. Ms Taylor was approached by the newspaper for comment.