3/18/2025 9:41:00 AM
Fuller's has agreed a £185m bank facility with a consortium of existing banks, with the unsecured facility available until 31 August 2028. The refinancing provides the business with "significant headroom" to pursue further growth through appropriate acquisitions and to enhance returns for shareholders. News of the bank facility comes as Fuller's completed its share buyback programme at the start of the year, which resulted in the repurchase of 6.5 million 'A' shares, reports Catering Today.
Pubs may face double recycling charges under new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules, advises the Morning Advertiser. This new change is due to recently released Government regulations, which the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) warned was the equivalent to the loss of 5,000 jobs. The BBPA criticised the new EPR regime as "chaotic", arguing it will result in pubs being charged twice for the same recycling of glass bottles. Under the new rules, glass packaging sold within pubs will be classified as household waste, despite already being recycled under commercial waste arrangements, Suppliers will pass on the additional costs to pubs.
A new five-star hotel will open in Liverpool as part of the £1 billion King Edward Triangle scheme, says Boutique Hotelier. KEIE Limited plan to erect two towers within the scheme, comprising a total of 400 units. One tower will be dedicated to the five-star hotel and the second to luxury branded residences. The developers are understood to be seeking a global luxury hotel operator who could provide a five-star brand across both the hotel rooms and residences. KEIE Limited will collaborate with Hugh Frost on the hotel venture, whose Beetham Organisation built the 40-floor West Tower in Liverpool's city centre, currently the city's highest building.
Independent music company All Things Considered Group (ATC) has acquired a majority interest in two prominent Brighton-based music venues as well as an associated festival amenities company, reports MCA Insight. ATC, through its subsidiary Joy Entertainment Group, has increased its ownership of Concorde 2 to 80 per cent and acquired full ownership of the amenity's operations entity JTR Productions for a total cash consideration of approximately £2.49m. Separately, Joy has acquired 60 per cent of Brighton-based late-night venue Volks for about £400,000 in cash. The acquisitions enhance the firm's cross-selling potential, strengthening ATC's ability to offer end-to-end service delivery to artists across a growing range of creative and commercial needs.
Hotel values across Europe showed a steady 2.0% increase in 2024 helped by lower interest rates, modest gains in RevPAR and consistent demand for European travel from international visitors, according to this year's Hotel Valuation Index (HVI) from HVS. HVS said the rise in hotel values, with some markets surpassing values of 2019, was helped by a return by many to pre-pandemic occupancy levels, as well as improving F&B revenues and the slow recovery of the MICE segment. Southern Europe experienced the strongest growth in hotel values with a close to full recovery to 2019 levels. Eastern Europe, while behind the rest of the region saw the second-strongest growth. Hotels in Paris remain the most expensive in Europe, followed by London, Zürich, Rome, Florence and Geneva reports Hotel Investment Today.
Nigel Sutcliffe, former chief operating officer at the Fat Duck Group, has joined forces with butchers Gabriel Machin to open a pub in Henley this May, advises The Caterer. It comes almost four years after Sutcliffe, co-founder of restaurant consultancy Truffle Hunting, relaunched the Oarsman pub in Marlow. The team behind the Oarsman will now be taking over the 34-cover Three Tuns pub.
Boxpark has revealed the traders for its Liverpool Street launch reports Pub & Bar...