|
|
|
Wed 23rd Apr 2025 - Update: Hollywood Bowl, Meatailer et al |
|
|
Hollywood Bowl reports record group first half revenue and strong customer demand, ‘well positioned to mitigate higher employment costs’: Hollywood Bowl has reported record group first half revenue alongside strong customer demand and said it well positioned to mitigate higher employment costs. In a trading update for the six months ended 31 March 2025, the company said its first half group revenue of was a new high of £129.2m, up 8.4% from £119.2m in the first half of FY2024. Its UK revenue was up 4.7% to £108.2m and its Canada revenue was up 40.8%, on a constant currency basis, to CAD 38.0m (2024: £21.1m). Hollywood Bowl also reported total group like-for-like (lfl) revenue growth of 2.1%. UK lfl total revenue was up 1.3%, with bowling centres lfl of 1.5%, while Canada lfl total revenue was up 13.6%, with bowling centres lfl of 3.7% on a constant currency basis. It said group lfls were negatively impacted by 0.9% due to the timing of Easter compared to the first half of FY2024, as well as a 0.2% impact from the extra leap year day in 2024. The company successful completed a £10m share buyback, with 3,762,176 shares purchased and cancelled, and said a strong balance sheet supports its growth strategy. It had a net cash position on 31 March 2025 of £22.7m, with an undrawn £25m revolving credit facility. Hollywood Bowl’s UK estate now sits at 75 centres after three new ones opened – in Swindon, Preston and Inverness – “all performing well and in line with expectations”. It is on track to open two new centres in the second half of FY2025, in Uxbridge and Reading. In Canada, it now has 15 centres after opening two new ones – in Ottawa and Calgary – both also “performing well and in line with expectations”. It is set to start construction on a new centre in Alberta, due to open in the first half of FY2026. The company said: “Trading in the first half has been strong and included a record revenue month in both the UK and Canada in December. Performance has been driven by the ongoing successful execution of our strategy to drive returns through investment in the size and quality of the estate and in the customer experience. The five new centre openings in the UK and Canada during the first half have performed well and the pipeline continues to build across both geographies. The Group remains on track to achieve its target total of 130 centres by 2035. There remains strong, continued demand for fun leisure activities across both geographies. Families are actively seeking experiences that are affordable, safe, and convenient, and that cater to all ages. As the UK and Canada's largest ten-pin bowling operator, Hollywood Bowl Group is well positioned to meet this demand given its inclusive, great value-for-money offer. The group’s resilience to inflationary pressures, with over 70% of group revenue not subject to cost-of-goods inflation, has allowed prices to be kept affordable and attractive in recent years. As previously announced, the cost impact from recent changes to national insurance contributions and national living and minimum wages in the UK is expected to be circa £1.2m on an annualised basis from when the changes were implemented in April 2025. The group is well positioned to mitigate these higher employment costs given the strong cost culture and low labour-to-revenue ratio of under 20% in the UK. It is the group’s view that the tariff changes, announced in early April 2025, will have no material impact on its operating costs. The group successfully completed a £10m share buyback on 8 April 2025. The ongoing significant cash generation from the core business and returns from the ongoing investment programme allows the group to continue to invest in the quality of its estate, further expand its portfolio in the UK and Canada and enhance the customer experience, while maximising returns to its shareholders.” Chief executive Stephen Burns said: “We are pleased with our half year performance, with results in line with our expectations, reflecting the ongoing demand for fun leisure activities and the attraction of bowling as an affordable, inclusive experience that everyone can enjoy. Our teams work extremely hard to deliver high-quality experiences and we continue to invest in growing our estate and enhancing our industry-leading proposition, while carefully controlling costs and cash.”
Premium Club subscribers to receive updated Multi-Site Database with 3,386 operators and 30 new companies on Friday:Premium Club subscribers are to receive the updated Multi-Site Database on Friday (25 April), at noon. The next Propel Multi-Site Database provides details of 3,386 multi-site operators and is searchable in seven main segments. The database features 989 (29%) operators from the casual dining sector, 794 (23%) pub and bar operators, 576 (17%) cafe bakery operators, 472 (14%) quick service restaurant operators, 276 (8%) hotel operators, 214 (6%) experiential leisure operators and 54 (2%) fine dining operators. The database is updated each month, and this edition includes 30 new companies. The database includes new companies in the cafe bakery sector such as artisan bakery business Flapjackery, family-owned north east coffee house franchise Siesta Coffee, and Leeds cafe concept Rabbit Hole Coffee. Premium Club subscribers also receive access to five additional databases: the New Openings Database, the Turnover & Profits Blue Book, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Database and the Who's Who of UK Hospitality. All Premium Club subscribers will be offered a 20% discount on tickets to Propel paid-for events including Excellence in Pub Retail (May 2025) and discounts on specialist sector reports such as the International Brands report. 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.
Meatailer returns to profit, repays RCF: Meatailer, the Scott Collins-led operator of the MeatLiquor concept, returned to profit in the year 30 June 2024. The company, which currently operates seven sites across London, plus restaurants in Brighton and Leeds, turned a pre-tax loss of £65,000 in 2023 into a profit of £118,000. Meatailer, which also operates The Dartmouth Arms in London’s Forest Hill, reported turnover of £15,247,000 for the year, up from £13,615,000 in 2023. The company’s Ebitda rose from £470,000 to £709,000. It had a cash balance at the year-end of £1,360,000 (2023: £1,189,000) and net cash of £544,000 (2023: £969,000). The company operated eight restaurants during the year (2023: nine), opening none (2023: none) and closing one (2023: two). Director Scott Collins said: “The company will continue to adapt its trading to deliver ongoing profitability of the existing group of restaurants and look to take advantage of property market opportunities in order to open further restaurants across the UK.” No dividend was paid (2023: nil). The company also said it repaid it existing revolving credit facility during the year. Post year end, in February 2025, the company opened a new sports bar concept, BLOODsports, in London’s Covent Garden. The venue also incorporates a branch of Hideout, a coffee and doughnut concept from Portsmouth. Tap & Tandoor opens fifth site, adds experiential offering: Indian gastropub operator Tap & Tandoor has opened its fifth site and added an experiential offering. Propel revealed in February that Tap & Tandoor – led by husband-and-wife team Ajay and Shivani Kenth – had acquired the former Wildwood restaurant in Bournemouth for an opening that would feature a new concept. The venue has now opened at 7a-11 Richmond Hill, offering live sports, darts and shuffleboard alongside its Indian food, craft beer and cocktails. “From our roots in Solihull to now launching our fifth venue, Tap & Tandoor brings its signature mix of bold Indian flavours, craft drinks and community spirit to the south coast,” Ajay told the Bournemouth Echo. “With live sports, darts, shuffleboard and vibrant dining across two floors, we’re here to elevate the town centre experience. It is all about delivering that great experience from the moment they book the table to the moment they leave. We live in such a competitive time to give value to customers. People are coming to spend two hours and spend money – it’s a great compliment, and in return, we give them a great experience.” The company also operates sites in Portsmouth, Peterborough, Solihull and Southampton.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
