Exclusive – Breal Capital paid £1,960,000 to buy Purity, festival supply losses hit company hard: Breal Capital paid £1,960,332 to buy Purity Brewing and its Birmingham bar out of administration. The administrator’s report indicates that The Business Growth Fund instructed Springboard Corporate Finance to launch a sale process for the group as early as February 2023 – a number of parties made offers for the business but none were acceptable to different stakeholders. Figures for the 2023 financial year ending 31 August show turnover of £9,531,000 and net losses of £2,585,000. The Business Growth Fund was the largest individual shareholder, holding a 35% stake having invested £7.5m in the group in 2018. Its loan notes were carrying rolled up interest of circa £800,000. The administrator’s report stated: “It has also supported the business on an ongoing basis through provision of working capital funding, most recently in August 2023. BGF took second ranking security in August 2023 when it advanced an additional £300,000 to Purity.” NatWest provided debt facilities in the form of a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme loan of £1.2m (of which £800,000 was outstanding at the time of the administrator’s appointment) and an overdraft facility of £1.25m. The administrator’s report states that Purity sought to diversity in the summer of 2023 by supplying the festival trade, which is high-risk but high-reward. The report states: “Unfortunately, this did not perform as expected. The festival trade is highly dependent on the weather. Given the poor summer in 2023, sales were behind forecast, resulting in an unexpectedly high level of product returns, The level of sales generated were insufficient to cover the promotional and other costs of supplying the festival, resulting in trading losses.” The administrators report that the BGF is ‘highly unlikely’ to receive any distribution against the circa £5.25m it is owed and its debt is subordinate to NatWest, which will receive a distribution. The amount of secondary claims is estimated to be £1,819,078 – there will be insufficient funds for a distribution to unsecured creditors. Historically, Purity was profitable. In the year to 31 August 2017, Purity made a pre-tax profit of £710,573 (2016: £601,996) on turnover of £8,886,038. (2016: £7,817,696). Purity Brewing joins Black Sheep Brewery, as well as London-based Brew by Numbers and Brick Brewery in the Breal Group’s growing brewery portfolio. Breal acquired the brewing assets of Purity through new vehicle PBC Brewing and Black Sheep Brewing Company for £1,876,582. It paid a further £84,000 to acquire Purity’s bar and kitchen site in Birmingham city centre.

Propel’s Multi-Site Database improved for 2024 with unique segmentation: Propel’s leading database, the Multi Site Database, which provides the details of more than 3,000 multi-site operators, has been redesigned so Premium subscribers will be able to search the data segmented into key industry sectors. This new straightforward segmentation will allow users to search quickly in key categories such as Pubs and Bars, Cafe Bakery, QSR, Casual Dining, Fine Dining, Hotel and Experiential Leisure. Subscribers will be able to drill down into the details and updates for these specific areas – so, for example, the circa 640 multi-site operators in the Pubs and Bars sector and 150 operators in the Experiential Leisure area can be examined in a stand-alone format. This new functionality will be available later this month when the latest Multi-Site Database is released on Friday, 26 January at midday. An updated Multi-Site Database is published every month, with an average of 50 or so companies added each month. Phil Pemberton, Propel’s director of premium services, said: “The new ability to segment this vital information is unique to the industry and is an element that our Premium subscribers requested. It will provide even more clarity and search capability to each segment of the sector.” A Propel Premium subscription costs an annual sum of £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. 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. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up. The Premium subscription service currently has more than 4,000 subscribers.

Hard Rock Café reduces UK losses: Hard Rock Café’s UK business has reported pre-tax losses reduced to £9,461,000 in the year to 31 December 2022 (2021: £18,249,000) on turnover up to £27,245,000 (2021: £12,733,000). During the year, the company recorded impairment expense of £8m (2021: £13.6m) related to its Piccadilly café. As its restaurants began to re-open the company saw retail average spend increase to £38.50 (2021: £33.85) whilst restaurant average spend reduced to £28.86 (2021. £31.12). There were no receipts from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (2021: £1.3m). The parent company, Seminole Holdings, has provided a letter of support which indicates a commitment to support the business for at least 12 months – it has total cash reserves of $164.1m. The last full-year before the pandemic, ending 31 December 2019, saw turnover of £30,762,000 and a loss before tax – it was the year it opened its Piccadilly store. The year before saw a £2,918,000 pre-tax profit on £23,457,000 of turnover. The company said it expects business to return to normal by the end of 2024.