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Thu 14th Aug 2025 - Update: Busaba was acquired out of administration for £75,000, Blacklock and Rank Group results |
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Busaba was acquired out of administration for £75,000, increased cost pressures had ‘significant Impact on the company’s financial position’: Busaba Eathai, the Thai business founded by Alan Yau, was acquired out of administration for £75,000 after increased cost pressures had a “significant Impact on the company’s financial position”, an administrators report from Leonard Curtis has revealed. Busaba was last month acquired out of administration via a pre-pack sale to a new unrelated company called Seaco Investments. The deal saved around 240 jobs at the business, which was founded in 1999 and currently trades from six sites in the capital and one in the Lakeside shopping scheme in Essex. The report said the accepted offer of £75,000 from Seaco included £65,000 for chattel assets, stock and works in progress and £10,000 in goodwill. Explaining the background to the administration, the report said: “Following its incorporation, the company grew the Busaba brand by opening further restaurants and expanding its operations outside of London to cities such as Manchester and Liverpool. At its peak, the company operated 16 restaurants across the UK. Although this expansion was initially successful for the company, the Manchester and Liverpool restaurants were never able to obtain the same levels of commercial success as the London restaurants and therefore, in 2016, the decision was made to close them to refocus its business on its core London market. In 2020, the company was sold to Thui, and later that year, entered into a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) with its creditors. As part of the CVA and company restructure, the company exited leases at four of its premises to assist with its cashflow. The CVA was successful and completed on 17 December 2021. Following the CVA, the company traded successfully, and in 2022 opened two new restaurants outside of London, in Oxford and Cardiff. However, despite both restaurants being critically acclaimed, they were not commercially successful, and therefore the decision was made to close both sites in late 2023 The director advises that the company suffered from the downturn in high street restaurant trade, due to the covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine conflict and the new work from home culture. These factors, combined with the greater input costs and the new increased government taxation on national insurance and the national minimum wage Increases, have had a significant Impact on the company's financial position. In March 2023, the director of the company contacted Leonard Curtis for advice on the company’s financial position, specifically in regard to its outstanding liability to HMRC. Leonard Curtis assisted the company with agreeing a time to pay (TTP) with HMRC, which has been ongoing for the past two years. However, despite the TTP, the company was unable to generate sufficient cashflow to materially reduce its liability with HMRC, and on 27 May 2025, HMRC advised that they would be instructing solicitors to begin winding up procedures against the company if significant payments were not made. Following the correspondence from HMRC, the company found itself in a financial position from which the director believed it could not recover, and he therefore took the decision to seek further advice from Leonard Curtis.” The possibility of a sale began to be explored in June 2025, and the business was marketed for sale that same month. This resulted in 18 expressions of interest and nine signed NDAs. Two offers were subsequently received by the deadline of 7 July 2025, but both required security of tenure at the company’s seven trading premises. However, the company occupies these premises on an informal basis and has no rights of occupation to assign. The landlords were approached to enquire whether they would be wiling to enter into discussions with any interested parties over occupation, but they were not, and so therefore the offers were not accepted. The report said: “Given the lack of an acceptable offer, further discussions were held with both offerors and other parties who had failed to bid by the deadline. The fact the company could not offer any security of tenure at any of their premises was a major factor affecting interest. However, on 14 July 2025, an offer of £75,000, unconditional of occupational rights, was received from Seaco Investments. This resulted in heads of terms being agreed on 14 July 2025.” The report said that prior to the administration, it was understood that the balance due to Tnui under their security was £24m. It is currently anticipated that there will be sufficient asset realisations in the administration to enable a return to Tnui under their fixed charge. The report said based upon the information currently available, it is unlikely that there will be sufficient realisations in this matter to enable a prescribed part fund to be available to unsecured creditors. Secondary preferential claims are currently estimated at £5,249,577, although it is currently uncertain as to whether there will be sufficient funds realised to enable a return to secondary preferential creditors. The company reported turnover fell to £21,073,957 for the year ending 17 September 2023 compared with £21,162,725 the previous year. Ebitda was minus £636,000 compared with a profit of £172,000 the previous year. Pre-tax losses narrowed to £1,813,221 from £3,093,377 the year before.
Premium Club subscribers to receive next Who’s Who of UK Hospitality next Friday featuring 1,035 companies: The next Who’s Who of UK Hospitality will be released to Premium Club subscribers next Friday (22 August), at midday. Another 87 companies have been added to the database, which now features 1,035 companies. This month’s edition will also include 108 updated entries. The companies, listed in alphabetical order, will have their most recent results reported as well as broader information around Ebitda, plans and trading style available. The database merges Companies House information, interviews and other public information to provide an easy to reference and exhaustive guide to the sector. Premium Club subscribers also receive access to five other databases: the Turnover & Profits Blue Book, Multi-Site Database, the New Openings Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database and the UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Database. All Premium Club subscribers will be offered a 20% discount on tickets to Propel paid-for events and discounts on specialist sector reports. Operators that are Premium Club subscribers are also able to send up to four members of staff to each of our four Multi-Club Conferences for free. Premium Club subscribers receive their daily Propel Info newsletter 11 hours earlier than standard subscribers, at 7pm the evening before. They also receive videos of presentations at eight Propel conference events two weeks after they are held. This represents around 100 videos of industry insight over the course of the year. Premium Club subscribers will be sent a dedicated monthly newsletter that will highlight key updates in the sector and direct subscribers to all the vital content their membership offers. Premium Club subscribers also receive exclusive opinion columns every Friday at 5pm, which include the thoughts of Propel group editor Mark Wingett and a host of industry leaders from across the sector. A Premium Club 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 Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or supplier. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.
Blacklock – first regional location trading beyond expectations showcases scalability of the brand beyond London, refinances to support growth plans after returning to profit: Chophouse group Blacklock has said its first regional location trading beyond expectations “showcases the scalability of the brand beyond the capital” and has refinanced in order to support its growth plans. Blacklock opened at Manchester’s Freetrade Exchange Building in October, before the following month selling a minority stake in its business to the Business Growth Fund (BGF). A second regional location is set to open early next year, in Birmingham’s St Philip’s Place. Writing in the company’s accounts for the year to 20 December 2024, Ker said: “The group delivered a very good year, driven by strong underlying cover growth across all restaurants and continued momentum in brand awareness and guest loyalty. In October 2024, the group opened its first regional restaurant in Manchester – its largest restaurant to date. The restaurant has exceeded expectations, with trading in line with the established London restaurants, showcasing the scalability of the brand beyond the capital. Building on this momentum, the group plans to open its seventh restaurant, in Birmingham, in the first quarter of 2026, further extending its regional presence, while also looking for suitable opportunities across London and gateway cities in the UK. To support this next phase of growth, the group also welcomed The BGF as a minority investor during the year, bringing strategic support and governance expertise while preserving founder-led control. At the balance sheet date, the group held £2.7m of cash (2023: £2.1m), and net debt remained modest, reflecting a prudent approach to financing. In June 2025, following the financial year-end, the group successfully refinanced into a new capex facility to support its growth ambitions. The facility replaces the previous term loan and provides the group with additional flexibility to fund future openings while preserving working capital headroom.” It comes after the business returned to profit in the year, turning a pre-tax loss of £64,962 into a profit of £44,794. Its turnover rose from £15,788,389 to £19,607,837. Underlying Ebitda increased by 125% year on year from £1m to £2.2m. Ker added: “The group’s strong financial performance is rooted in a steadfast commitment to operational excellence and a belief that being a great place to work is the foundation for long-term success. Team turnover remains industry-leading, and the group retained its status in the UK’s Top 100 Large Companies to Work For. The group also maintained its certified B Corp status, underlining its commitment to balancing profit and purpose across environmental, social, and governance principles. The group continues to manage labour cost inflation, driven by increases to the national minimum wage and employer’s national insurance. These pressures extend across the supply chain, with suppliers facing similar challenges. To help mitigate broader inflationary pressures, the group has focused on growing covers to improve labour efficiency, while its expanding estate has strengthened supplier relationships and unlocked scale-based efficiencies.” Grosvenor Casinos owner reports good start to new financial year, full year profit up 248% to £53.9m, group at ‘exciting inflection point’: Rank Group, which owns Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos, has reported a good start to its net financial year, with non-gaming revenue up 9% in first six weeks. It comes after the group reported a pre-tax profit of £53.9m for the year to 30 June 2025, compared to £15.5m the year before, an increase of 248%. The group saw net gaming revenue grow 11% to £795.4m for the year ending 30 June 2025, up 8% from £734.7m in the previous year. The group, which runs 152 venues in the UK, said Grosvenor revenues rose 14%, with average weekly takings hitting £7.3m. Rank has also extended £100m of its £120m bank facility until 2028, giving it firepower for further investment. Chief executive John O’Reilly said: “We have had another successful year, delivering revenue growth and profit ahead of our expectations. Both online and in our venues the customer reaction to the investments we are making in our businesses has been excellent. We are growing profitability and have a strong net cash position which will enable both continued investment and progressive dividend returns for our shareholders. With the long-awaited legislative reforms for casinos now delivered, the group is at an exciting inflection point. The Grosvenor business will benefit from the higher gaming machine allocations and the introduction of sports betting which will better meet existing customer needs and increase the attractiveness of casinos to a broader base of consumers. Our bingo businesses continue to strengthen as we invest in the quality and value of the customer offering. Our online business is tracking to the expected 8-12% revenue growth rate as we drive the benefits of our proprietary technology and develop seamless cross-channel experiences for our customers. We have a very strong roadmap of opportunity to build further success for the Rank Group over the coming years. I would like to recognise the exceptional work of my colleagues across the Rank Group whose unwavering commitment to delivering outstanding customer service continues to be the cornerstone of our financial performance.” Rank is now gearing up for the full rollout of landmark land-based casino reforms, which came into effect in July and allow for higher numbers of gaming machines and in-venue sports betting. The changes will see around 850 additional machines installed across its 50 Grosvenor casinos in the UK over the next year, alongside a sportsbook launch in 38 sites. The group has already begun a modernisation push, reopening its flagship London casino, The Victoria, last week following a £15m revamp.
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