REG - Revel Collective PLC - H1 Update

Revel CollectiveAnnouncement

22/01/2025 07:00

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RNS Number : 1968U  Revel Collective PLC (The)  22 January 2025

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.

 

 

The Revel Collective Plc

(the "Group")

H1 update

The Revel Collective plc, a leading operator of premium bars and gastro pubs,
trading mainly under the Revolution, Revolución de Cuba and Peach Pubs
brands, today provides an update on Christmas and H1 trading and gives
guidance on the outturn for the year ending 28 June 2025 (FY25).

Festive trading

·    Group like-for-like sales for the 4 weeks from 7 December 2024 to 3
January 2025 were +1.6%.

·    Prebooked revenue, largely Corporate Christmas bookings, achieved
record levels over the festive period in our Revolution and Revolucion De Cuba
and was 5.3% ahead of last year.

·    32 weekly food and drink sales records were broken across the group
during the festive period with the Peach Pubs brand performing the best of our
3 main brands.

FY 25 Outturn

While Festive trading was robust, and our pubs have seen a strong H1
performance compared to last year, sales in our bar brands during the early
part of the financial year   were hampered by the uncertainty caused by the
delay to the completion of the Revolution Bars Limited Restructuring Plan.
Although there has been some gradual improvement in sales in our Revolution
brand, the late night market continues to be challenging, and sales have not
yet recovered as quickly as we had anticipated.

Several planned initiatives are in place to boost profitable growth in the
second half, as previously outlined as part of our Restructuring Plan.
However, the changes announced in the budget are expected to fully offset
these efforts in FY25.  We estimate that the annual profit impact of the
Budget announcements on the Group is £4m.

Lower sales in H1 and higher costs arising from the Budget, which will come
into effect for the final quarter of the financial year, mean that the Board
now expect the IAS 17 EBITDA outcome, driven by the level consumer sentiment,
to be in the range of £2.0-4.0m.  Net debt at 21 January 2025 is £14.4m
(excluding the PIK tranche of £2.3m and excluding lease debt).  We currently
have headroom on our banking facilities but we will continue to keep
discretionary spend and capital investment under significant restriction for
the rest of this financial year.

22 January 2025

Rob Pitcher, CEO of Revolution Bars Group, said:

"The 2024 festive trading period provided us with a fantastic opportunity to
showcase what we do best and it was wonderful to see our guests enjoying the
parties we hosted. I am particularly pleased with the strong performance in
Peach and Founders & Co, which stood out in terms of sales growth.

However, the younger guests in our bars continue to face challenges with the
high cost of living.  Additionally, the negative discourse surrounding the
Restructuring Plan created uncertainty among our guests and team members.
This uncertainty persisted well into FY25, leading to a weaker recovery than
we had originally anticipated. We now look forward to a period which will see
us implement several new sales initiatives, including launching the new brand
proposition for our Revolution brand, just in time for our target guests to
receive the 16.3% (18-20 year olds) increase in National Minimum Wage.

The newly elected Labour Government's recent budget announcements, especially
the reduction in the National Insurance thresholds for Employers, will have a
very damaging impact on the Group.  These measures are regressive and offer
no clear pathway for economic growth within the hospitality sector. They also
pose risks to the employment market. We strongly urge the government to
reconsider this policy in particular and explore more balanced alternatives.

I'd like to thank our teams for all their dedication and hard work in making
the Christmas period such a wonderful experience for our guests. "

Enquiries:

 The Revel Collective

 Rob Pitcher, CEO

 Danielle Davies, CFO       Tel: 0161 330 3876

 Cavendish Capital Markets Limited (NOMAD & Broker)

 Matt Goode Teddy Whiley (Corporate Finance)

 Tim Redfern (Corporate Broking)              Tel: 020 7220 0500

 Instinctif (Financial PR)

 Matt Smallwood / Justine Warren / Augustine
 Chipungu               Tel: 020 7457 2005/

 020 7457 2010

 

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