Loungers reports strong trading, slams government
By Sean Farrell
Date: Wednesday 02 Dec 2020
(Sharecast News) - Loungers said it traded strongly until the second English lockdown as the bar operator reported a sharp drop in profit and criticised the government's treatment of the hospitality sector.
Adjusted pretax profit for the 24 weeks to 4 October fell to £739,000 from £2.63m as revenue dropped by a third to £53.5m. Reported pretax profit was £117m compared with a loss of £2.5m a year earlier.
Headline like-for-like sales rose 25% in the period to 4 October and trading stayed strong until the government imposed a second lockdown for England on 5 December. The lockdown ended at midnight on Tuesday but many pubs and bars must remain shut in high-risk areas under new rules announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Loungers said it expected a more severe impact on sales in the short run with 60 bars shut in England under tier 3 restrictions and 91 sites trading in tier 2 areas. In Wales, 14 sites will be under stricter restrictions from 4 December.
Chief Executive Nick Collins said Loungers had benefited from having its bars in market towns and suburban locations. Many local businesses have fared well with people working from home while city centre restaurants and bars have suffered.
Collins said Loungers expected to open 25 new bars in the year to April 2022. He criticised the government's haphazard restrictions on the UK's hospitality sector which sparked a rebellion of Tory MPs on Tuesday.
"The recent restrictions imposed are bewildering, unfair, appear to lack any scientific basis and will decimate the hospitality industry across the UK," Collins said. "These most recent interventions, at the most critical time of year for the sector, will cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, see the demise of thousands of pubs, bars and restaurants and leave vacant properties across the UK."
Loungers shares rose 7.7% to 239p at 09:47 GMT.
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10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN