Revolution Bars Group Trading and Estate Update (7235Y)
January 05 2024 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMRBG
RNS Number : 7235Y
Revolution Bars Group
05 January 2024
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it
forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union
(Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with
the company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.
Revolution Bars Group Plc
("Revolution" or the "Group")
Trading and Estate Update
Revolution Bars Group plc, a leading operator of premium bars
and beautiful gastro pubs, trading mainly under the Revolution,
Revolución de Cuba and Peach Pubs brands, today announces that it
has traded positively over the important festive season and
provides an estate update.
Group like-for-like sales for the four weeks from 4 to 31
December were +9.0%, the best festive period since 2019. Revolución
de Cuba and Peach Pubs performed well, and whilst the Revolution
brand traded positively on a like for like basis over the festive
period, its guests continue to be disproportionately impacted by
the current macro-economic conditions. Group like-for-like sales
for H1, including New Year's Eve, continued to demonstrate an
improving trend, but remained negative at -2.8%. As usual, the
Group expects to announce its H1 pre-close trading update on 24
January.
Estate update
Whilst the Group delivered a strong festive trading period, the
macroeconomic trading environment continued to be challenging, and
the prospect of the statutory 10.8% increase in the national living
wage in April 2024 increases the challenge.
As part of the Groups constant process of reviewing the estate,
it has been decided that eight of the Group's least profitable bars
will be closed to reduce future site losses. The closed bars are:
Revolution Bars in Beaconsfield, Derby, Reading, St Peters
Liverpool and Wilmslow, Revolución de Cubas in Sheffield and
Southampton and the Playhouse in Newcastle-Under-Lyme. Negotiations
for five of the eight bars had already begun for them to be
transferred to other operators or their leases rescinded.
The Group is currently working through redeployment plans to
enable those team members affected to be offered alternative
employment elsewhere in the Group. The Group will continue to
operate 58 bars and 22 pubs.
As at 4 January 2024, net debt was GBP18.3m, below that reported
in July 2023.
Rob Pitcher, CEO of Revolution Bars Group, said:
"We have had the best festive trading period for four years with
all of our brands recording positive like for like sales and
Revolución de Cuba being the standout performer.
However, our younger customers are still feeling the
disproportionate effect of the cost-of-living crisis and the
national living wage will increase materially in April 2024.
Therefore, we have taken the difficult yet ultimately beneficial
step for the Group to close several bars which are
unprofitable.
Our teams do a terrific job in making guests welcome and giving
them a great experience and again we have demonstrated that when
our customer base can afford to do so, they are choosing to
celebrate with us, and we have delivered record levels of guest
satisfaction. This should bode well for the future."
Enquiries:
Revolution Bars Group plc
Rob Pitcher, CEO
Danielle Davies, CFO Tel: 0161 330 3876
Cavendish Capital Markets Limited (NOMAD & Broker)
Matt Goode / Simon Hicks / Teddy Whiley (Corporate Finance)
Tim Redfern (Corporate Broking) Tel: 020 7220 0500
Instinctif (Financial PR)
Matt Smallwood / Justine Warren Tel: 020 7457 2005/
020 7457 2010
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
TSTBIMTTMTBMTII
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 05, 2024 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
Revolution Bars (LSE:RBG)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2024 to Jun 2024
Revolution Bars (LSE:RBG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2023 to Jun 2024