03/12/2024 11:22:00
The cafe bar business Loungers has agreed to be bought by a US investment group in a deal that values it at about £338m reports The Guardian. Fortress Investment Group said it had made an offer for the UK hospitality group through a newly formed investment vehicle. Loungers is the latest London-listed company to strike a deal with an international private equity group. Operating the Lounge, Cosy Club and Brightside brands, it has 280 venues across the country. Fortress has offered 310p for each Loungers share, which represents a premium of about 30% to its closing price on Wednesday. The Companies said the deal values the entire share capital of Loungers at about £338.3m.
Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) has released its full-year financial results for the 52 weeks ended 28 September 2024. The operator of Ember Inns, Nicholson's, O'Neill's and many other branded concepts, saw a like-for-like sales growth of 5.3%, delivering an operating profit of £312m, up 41.2% from prior year. Total revenue for the period was £2.61bn (2023 £2.5bn), with a profit before tax of £199m. While M&B has made a strong start to its 2025 financial year, with like-for-like sales up 4% in the first seven weeks, cost headwinds are anticipated to total c.£100m, an increase of just over 5% on its current cost base, says Pub & Bar.
Nando's is ramping up its restaurant expansion plans following strong sales performance that has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, advises MCA Insight. The chain has announced plans to open 14 new restaurants in the UK during the current financial year with many sites having already opened. This expansion follows a successful period where the company opened 17 restaurants in the year to February 2024, with 11 of these in the UK and Ireland. The chain reports it has been "extremely encouraged" by customer demand in the first quarter of its 2024-25 financial year.
Ruby Stella has opened its doors in Clerkenwell, marking the third London site for Ruby Hotels, says Boutique Hotelier. The purpose-built Ruby Stella is designed to blend in with the historic aesthetic of the surrounding Clerkenwell area. The hotel has 153 guest rooms, all of which have been styled with Ruby's 'lean luxury' philosophy in mind - featuring blackout curtains, aromatherapy Ruby Care products, fluffy towels and a Marshall amp so guests can plug in their playlist. The launch of the Clerkenwell location comes amid an aggressive expansion drive for Ruby.
The owners behind the Ludo Sports Bar & Kitchen brand have secured £6m of new funding to grow the portfolio by five new sites, reports Pub & Bar. In a joint partnership, St Austell Brewery and the senior team at ETM Group opened its second Ludo in November in the Guildhall Shopping Centre in Exeter. It follows the debut Ludo venue, which opened in Bath in May 2023. Ludo Sports Bar & Kitchen is built around premium sports viewing. The opening of Ludo Sports Bar & Kitchen in Exeter created 60 new job opportunities.
London outpaced seasonal demand elsewhere last month, as mild weather and half-term saw a rise in demand and occupancy for hotels in the capital, according to the latest RSM Hotels Tracker. It found that the occupancy of London hotels rose from 83.7% in September to 84.2% in October but fell from 82.8% to 80.7% in the UK. However, occupancy was up on last year's October in both London and the UK, at 81.1% and 78.9%, reports Hotel Owner.
Fleurets acted for Barons Pub Company in their recent acquisition of the Curious Pig. Clive Price, MD of Barons, said: "The Curious Pig is a business I have long admired, i'm so delighted to welcome it as the 11th operation to join the Barons family." Read the full story here.