Revel Collective reports record Christmas driven by performance of Peach Pubs, overall sales hampered by uncertainty caused by restructuring plan and not recovered as quickly as anticipated: The Revel Collective has reported a record Christmas driven by the performance of its Peach Pubs division, but said its overall sales have been hampered by uncertainty caused by its restructuring plan and have not recovered as quickly as anticipated. The operator of 65 venues – trading predominantly under the Revolution, Revolución de Cuba and Peach Pubs brands – said group like-for-like sales for the four weeks from 7 December 2024 to 3 January 2025 were up 1.6%. It said pre-booked revenue, largely corporate Christmas bookings, achieved record levels over the festive period in its Revolution and Revolucion De Cuba brands and was 5.3% ahead of last year. Furthermore, 32 weekly food and drink sales records were broken across the group during the festive period, with Peach Pubs performing the best of its three main brands. However, the company said that while festive trading was robust, and its pubs have seen a strong first half performance compared to last year, sales in its bar brands during the early part of the financial year were hampered by the uncertainty caused by the delay to the completion of the Revolution Bars restructuring plan. “Although there has been some gradual improvement in sales in our Revolution brand, the late-night market continues to be challenging, and sales have not yet recovered as quickly as we had anticipated,” the company said. “Several planned initiatives are in place to boost profitable growth in the second half, as previously outlined as part of our restructuring plan. However, the changes announced in the budget are expected to fully offset these efforts in FY25. We estimate that the annual profit impact of the Budget announcements on the group is £4m. Lower sales in the first half and higher costs arising from the Budget, which will come into effect for the final quarter of the financial year, mean that the Board now expect the IAS 17 Ebitda outcome, driven by the level consumer sentiment, to be in the range of £2.0 to 4.0m. Net debt at 21 January 2025 is £14.4m (excluding the PIK tranche of £2.3m and excluding lease debt). We currently have headroom on our banking facilities, but we will continue to keep discretionary spend and capital investment under significant restriction for the rest of this financial year.” Chief executive Rob Pitcher added: “The 2024 festive trading period provided us with a fantastic opportunity to showcase what we do best and it was wonderful to see our guests enjoying the parties we hosted. I am particularly pleased with the strong performance in Peach and Founders & Co, which stood out in terms of sales growth. However, the younger guests in our bars continue to face challenges with the high cost of living. Additionally, the negative discourse surrounding the restructuring plan created uncertainty among our guests and team members. This uncertainty persisted well into FY25, leading to a weaker recovery than we had originally anticipated. We now look forward to a period which will see us implement several new sales initiatives, including launching the new brand proposition for our Revolution brand, just in time for our target guests to receive the 16.3% (18 to 20-year-olds) increase in national minimum wage. The newly elected Labour government’s recent Budget announcements, especially the reduction in the national insurance thresholds for employers, will have a very damaging impact on the group.  These measures are regressive and offer no clear pathway for economic growth within the hospitality sector. They also pose risks to the employment market. We strongly urge the government to reconsider this policy in particular and explore more balanced alternatives. I’d like to thank our teams for all their dedication and hard work in making the Christmas period such a wonderful experience for our guests.”

BrewDog founder – there ‘has never been a more difficult time to start a business in the UK’: BrewDog founder James Watt has said there “has never been a more difficult time to start a business in the UK”, blaming the chancellor’s Budget for making entrepreneurs struggle. It came as the Scottish businessman announced plans for a new reality show, with the largest cash prize in UK TV history. Watt is in search of entrepreneurs to take part in House Of Unicorns, where they will have the chance to win £2m to help grow their businesses, reports The Daily Mail. He will invest £1m of his own cash into the winning business, with another £1 from Founders Capital – Europe’s largest founder investor community. Founders, entrepreneurs and business leaders will be put through their paces over the course of six weeks to compete for the £2m prize. Watt said the plan for the show stemmed from frustrations over the current choice of business investment shows, such as Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice. He said: “I’ve always been so disillusioned and, frankly, fed up with the tired format of reality TV business shows relying on worn-out tropes and stale stereotypes of entrepreneurs for comedy value, which are well past their sell-by date.” He said he hopes to “double the amount” of UK unicorns (firms valued at £1bn or more) through the show. However, he believes Labour’s policies have made starting a new business harder in the UK. He added: “I think we partly wanted to do this because it’s never been a more difficult time to start a business in the UK. There are still an amazing batch of entrepreneurs and opportunities in the UK, but I think the environment at the minute does mean that some need that extra support to really grow to their full potential. I don’t think the autumn Budget was helpful, and we are seeing founders leaving to run businesses overseas, so I really hope we see the momentum shift soon.”