Escape Hunt and Boom Battle Bar operator reports ‘marked turnaround’ in like-for-like performance following ‘challenging’ first quarter: XP Factory, which operates the Escape Hunt and Boom Battle Bar brands, has reported it has seen a “marked turnaround” in like-for-like performance following a “challenging” first quarter of the year. Group owner operated revenue was up 12% in the 19 weeks to 10 August 2025 compared with the prior year Escape Hunt UK like-for-like sales is up 0.4% year-to-date, with like-for-like sales growth of 8.6% in the six weeks to 10 August 2025 having fully offset the negative 3.5% in the first quarter. Boom UK like-for-like sales are down 5.6% year to date, excluding the impact of Euro 2024 like-for-like sales returned to 0.2% growth in the six weeks to 10 August 2025 versus a 6.4% decline in the first quarter. The company stated: “The challenges experienced by the hospitality industry as a whole since the group's year end have been widely publicised with increases in national insurance and minimum living wage, unseasonally hot weather and significant economic uncertainty all having a negative impact. Reflecting these factors, independent data suggests the experiential leisure industry suffered negative like-for-like sales decline in the calendar quarter to 30 June of around 10%. While XP Factory has not been immune to these external influences, the group has outperformed the industry and made further progress towards its strategic objectives. Escape Hunt revenue grew 11%. New sites opened since the same period last year added 15%, offset by a 4% decline from the closure of our site in Birmingham Central. Underlying UK like-for-like sales growth was 0.4% for the period, but this masks an improving trend from trading, with summer momentum building over recent weeks. In the six weeks to 10 August 2025, Escape Hunt delivered 8.6% like-for-like sales growth. Boom revenue increased 13%. New sites opened or acquired since the same period last year added 20%, offset by a 1% decline from the closure of our site in Swindon. Underlying UK like-for-like sales were down 5.6%. Similar to Escape Hunt, the 13 weeks to 29 June 2025 saw a greater reduction with the effect of hot weather and reduced corporate bookings having a more marked impact, as well as tough comparatives linked to England's run to the Euro 2024 final. Excluding the week of the Euros final, in the six weeks to 10 August, performance has improved with UK like-for-like sales improving to growth of 0.2%. Encouragingly, after the challenging start to the year, corporate bookings have since rebounded strongly, with year-to-date like-for-like bookings growth back in positive territory at 2%. Our site expansion strategy remains on track to meet our medium-term targets for March 2028. A new Boom site opened in Reading on 6 June 2025 and, to date, has been trading materially ahead of plan. A new Escape Hunt site opened in Canterbury on 30 April 2025, and on 1 August 2025 we opened the expansion to our site in Birmingham Resorts world, doubling capacity. Both sites have opened well. We have commenced build on a new Escape Hunt site in Sheffield and have a further, well advanced pipeline of five Escape Hunt sites in addition to a number of other sites in discussion across both brands. The roll out of sites is influenced by the pace at which the business generates cash and, as such is expected accelerate towards the back end of our three-year plan. Subject to the continuation of these trends and a robust corporate season, the Board remains cautiously optimistic the group will meet market expectations for the 12 months ending 31 March 2026.” The 2025 Experiential Leisure Report, the second year of Propel’s exhaustive report on the market, is now available. The report profiles the current shape of the experiential leisure market – including brands, estate size, trading type and geographical location and future trends. It also provides a detailed list of UK experiential leisure companies including key staff and Companies House information. The report includes 197 companies, marking a 10% growth in the sector since last year’s study, with 3,700 sites. The report is available for £595 plus VAT. Existing Premium Club subscribers can receive it for £395 plus VAT. The report will be made available for free to existing Premium subscribers on Wednesday, 10 September at 9am. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to order a copy.

 

Rocco Forte Hotels reports record revenue of £318.3m: Rocco Forte Hotels, which owns 16 upmarket hotels including Brown’s in London and the Balmoral in Edinburgh, has said turnover has grown 2.7% in the first two months of its new financial year as it reported revenue increased 2.1% to a record £318,316,000 for the year ending 30 April 2025 compared with £311,922,000 the previous year. Of this, £70,389,000 came from the UK (2024: £67,603,000), £224,395,000 from Europe (excluding the UK and Russia) (2024: £223,494,000) and £23,532,000 from Russia (2024: £20,825,000). Ebitda before the impact of IFRS 16 was £59.0m (2024: £45.5m). Pre-tax profit grew to £25,446,000 from £15,840,000 the year before. Overall occupancy was 58.5% (2024: 59.8%) as the group undertook a strategic refurbishment programme during the year that temporarily reduced available room inventory and full-service capacity at selected properties. Average daily rate grew 4.0% on the prior year on a like-for-like basis. The group has four hotels in development – all in Italy – while it said it has “a number of projects” at the advanced stages of negotiation. In his report accompanying the accounts, owner Sir Rocco Forte stated: “In the new financial year ending 30 April 2026, the group has continued to trade well, despite the impact of increased competition in key markets, notably Rome and London. Revenue in the first two months of the year increased by 2.7% compared with the same period in the prior year. The outlook for the remainder of the new financial year remains positive.” A dividend of £8.9m was paid (2024: nil). In January 2024, the company sold a 49% stake to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in a deal that valued the hotel group at about £1.2bn. Rocco Forte Hotels employs almost 2,700 staff.