Permanently Unique Group secures new £15m bank facility to fund UK and international expansion: Permanently Unique Group, the independent restaurant business formerly known as Tattu, has secured a new £15m revolving credit facility to fund future expansion. The company has new London locations planned for both its Fenix and Louis concepts, and the opening of its first international Tattu location, which is due to debut in Dubai next summer. Perched on top of the “world's tallest hotel”, Tattu Dubai will span 25,000 square foot with a restaurant, pool club and late-night bar/lounge offering. The development marks the group's most ambitious project to date. It comes as the company, which secured the new facility through long-standing banking partner NatWest, said in its current financial year, it has seen its revenue and profit performance continue to climb, with revenue expected to reach close to £40m and site Ebitda projected to grow by more than 30% to more than £10m. In the year to 31 December 2023., the group saw existing site revenue rise 10% to £29m, with site Ebitda up 11% to £7.5m and conversion up to 25.6%. At a group level, underlying company Ebitda rose 14.9% to £5.4m delivering gross margin growth and an increase in Ebitda conversion. The group said that its flagship brand, Tattu, which comprises five locations and serves upscale Chinese cuisine, enjoyed “an excellent year, including a bumper Christmas period”, with like-for-like sales up 9%. The company’s second format, Fenix, a luxury Greek-Mediterranean inspired restaurant concept, opened in Manchester, in late November 2023, making a “strong initial contribution” to the 2023 group performance. Since the year end, the business said Fenix has continued to deliver beyond expectations, and the group is currently negotiating a second location for the concept in London. The business described the 12-month period as one focused on “building solid foundations” that will pave the way for a period of accelerated growth. Since the year end, the business has launched a third concept, luxury Italian-American restaurant Louis, described as a “love letter to 1950's New York”, where fine cuisine is served alongside an exceptional roster of live musical performances. The business said the concept has been incredibly well received with a landmark London location in development for launch in summer 2025. Co-founder and chairman Adam Jones said: “This was an important year for the business with a key focus on laying the foundations for our next stage of expansion. Our energy was targeted at providing an environment of growth and development for our teams, while working closely with our supply chain to drive strong margins through efficiency. The performance from Tattu continues to exceed expectations, demonstrating the strength of the brand that has been built over the past decade. Alongside this, we launched our second concept, Fenix, which opened to exceptional demand and critical acclaim. After years in development, we are incredibly proud of the product the team are delivering, and the brand continues to outperform all sales and profit targets. Fenix offers huge potential for growth both nationally and internationally, and we are very excited about its future.” Permanently Unique Group features in the Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book, which is available exclusively to Premium Club members and features 978 companies. Permanently Unique Group's turnover of £29m is the 339th highest in the database. 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 kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription.

Merlin Entertainments secures £170m cash proceeds through refinancing and extends RCF by £28m, looking to shift towards more premium offering: Merlin Entertainments has secured £170m in cash proceeds through a refinancing and extended its revolving credit facility by £28m, as it looks to shift towards a more premium offering. In its accounts for the year to 31 December 2023, the group said post year-end, it had issued $500m of new senior secured notes to mature in 2031; extended $1,220m of drawn floating rate facilities due to mature in 2026 to 2029; extended €215m of drawn floating rate facilities due to mature in 2026 to 2029; and used some of the proceeds to repay €376m of drawn floating rate facilities due to mature in 2026 and 2029. “The refinancing secured cash proceeds of approximately £170m,” the group said. “The group’s revolving credit facility was also increased from £400m to £428m with an extension to the maturity to 2029.” Group chief executive Scott O’Neil said: “At a macroeconomic level we have seen consumers’ ‘flight to quality’, prioritising their discretionary spend on their favourite premium brands. With ten Legoland resorts across the globe, we are taking advantage of this shift towards premium by elevating the guest experiences at our resorts in a way that inspires deeper customer loyalty and offers us the ability to command premium pricing. Similar to our Legoland Parks, the development of our Resort Theme Parks locations into ‘mega-resorts’ with themed accommodation incentivises guests to stay longer at our attractions, improving our opportunity to deliver guests a seamlessly immersive experience from sunup to sundown. We continue to invest in expanding the scale and breadth of our resorts with themed accommodation.” During the year, the group welcomed 62 million visitors and achieved revenue of £2.13bn – a respective 12.8% and 8.4% increase (2022 revenue: £2.01bn). A pre-tax profit of £136m in 2022 turned into a loss of £214m. Adjusted Ebitda was £662m, down from £692m in 2022, when government support of £35 was included. “Excluding the impact of the government support, adjusted Ebitda would be 5.4% ahead of 2022,” the group said. “During 2023, UK trading was impacted by a normalisation of demand, an increase in outbound travel from the UK and poor weather over peak trading periods. Chessington World of Adventures benefited from the launch in the second quarter of the ‘World of Jumanji’ themed land and ride. Adjusted Ebitda margins have fallen to 31.6% compared with 35.1% in 2022. This reflects the impact of the primarily covid-19 related government support received of £15m in 2022 but not in 2023, increased utilities costs, and more normal levels of marketing expenditure, offset by lower repairs and maintenance expenditure compared to 2022. In the Gateway UK division, the ongoing recovery in inbound international tourism, primarily to the attractions in London, continued to drive positive trading, with continued strong revenues per guest. Reported growth also reflects the impact of the Cadbury World attraction that was acquired in late 2022.”