UK Leisure Sector - Q3 2018

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Summary

Q3 2018 witnessed buoyant M&A activity within the public house market with the purchase of 15 central London bars and clubs from Novus by Stonegate, Aprirose acquiring Wear Inns for £22.4m and The Restaurant Group acquiring Food & Fuel for £14.91m, adding to the Brunning & Price division of the company.

Investment in the sector has seen an increase, with Downing providing equity (£4.7m) to Apprise Pubs to expand into the Home Counties with a gastropub offering. Deltic have also invested in refurbishing parts of the estate this year spending £5.7m with a further £5.5m planned for next year. The National Trust, due to increased admissions and staycations, has also announced that they will be spending a further £20m over the next 5 years to improve facilities across their operations.

A perceived improvement has been validated by the reporting of like-for-like sales figures from large operators such as Brakspear's managed division, Peach Pub Company, and Deltic. Within the restaurant market, Wagamama has reported a group turnover of £300.6m, a 13% increase; whilst Flat Iron, with five London sites and a sixth due to open in Kings Cross, has increased turnover by 51.1% for the year ending August 2017. However, the news of the CAU sites closing has highlighted how the casual dining sector is still in state of uncertainty.

There has also been evidence of more action around environmental responsibility. Greene King are saving over 600,000 pints of water each day, having obtained a selfsupply licence. They are the first non-household water customer to do this and forms part of their sustainable initiatives strategy. The strategy includes the introduction of compostable straws, avoiding 30m per year going to landfill, and aiming for zero landfill waste by the year 2020. Marston's achieved zero landfill waste 18 months ahead of their 2020 target. These activities may encourage others to consider their environmental responsibilities.

Food for thought: The Boot in Freston near Ipswich is the first UK pub only accepting cashless payments, using both card and phone. Will this soon become the norm?

UK Leisure Sector Q3 2018 Highlights

July 2018 -

Pubs: Stonegate acquires 15 Novus sites for an undisclosed sum, rumoured to be circa £28m, with London venues including: Bar Soho, Loop, Babble, City and Gable.

Pubs: Deltic Group reports like-for-like sales increase of 4.9% for the year end to date 24th February 2018. Total sales at £106.5m were up 4.2% this year in comparison to £102.2m in last year.

Leisure: Bourne Leisure turnover announced at £1bn for the year to date 31st December 2007. The company operate Haven, Butlin's and Warner Leisure Hotels.

Hotels: Lone Star's hotel investment group, Amaris Hospitality Group, has been acquired by LRC Group. These seven properties trade under the Double Tree by Hilton.

Restaurants: Gaucho's CAU sites has gone into administration with 22 branches closing. Turnover was £25,507,748, however, there was a pre-tax loss of £2,449,797 compared to a loss of £901,643 to year ending 31st December 2015.

August 2018 -

Pubs: Peach Pub Company has reported an increase of 2.4% in like-like sales over its 20 gastropubs for the year ending 7th January 2018. Turnover totalled £25.6m.

Pubs: Brakspear have reported in their managed division like-for-like sales increase of 5%. Year ending 31st December 2017. Total turnover is 28.3m, an increase of 11%.

Hotels: Dalata has purchased the long leasehold interest of the Clayton Hotel in Aldgate, which is currently under development for £91m. It will have 212 rooms, bar, fitness centre and restaurant.

Leisure: Copper Green acquired Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire and Kenwick Park in Lincolnshire funded by a further £10m investment by the Business Growth Fund (BGF) and an additional £15.3m from HSBC.

Leisure: Whitbread sells Costa Coffee to Coca Cola for £3.9bn.

September 2018 -

Pubs: Alchemy Partners-owned Inn Collection has seen an increased turnover of 29% of the year ending 31st December 2017 of £10,209,837.

Restaurants: Investec and SC Lowry have bought Gaucho in a new vehicle created by the new lenders called Lomo Bidco. The administrator was Deloitte.

Hotels: The Coaching Inn Group has reported a rise in EBITDA from £2.1m which has been a 39.1% increase.

Leisure: The Broadway Plaza Leisure Scheme in Birmingham has been acquired by Legal and General for £46.95m from Aviva Investors.

Contact Details:

Elysia Wilson-Gunn
Senior Associate
T: 020 7280 4747
M: 07810 541 579
E: elysia.wilson-gunn@fleurets.com

Graeme Bunn
Managing Director
T: 020 7280 4740
M: 07776 208085
E: graeme.bunn@fleurets.com