Revolution Bars Group has overcome the distraction of a failed takeover bid and the abrupt loss of its chief executive to report strong trading for Christmas and the new year. Despite poor weather, it achieved like-for-like sales growth of 5.9 per cent in December, the fifth year in a row of record festive sales.
Mark McQuater resigned with immediate effect as chief executive in October after shareholders ignored the board and rejected a recommended £101.5 million bid from Stonegate Pub Company.
Keith Edelman, the chairman, who has taken over in the interim, said that Mr McQuater had made “a couple of mistakes” that had contributed to a surprise profit warning in May that had hit shares and ultimately led to interest from Stonegate and Deltic Group, the nightclub operator. He added that he was “delighted” at the way in which management and staff had “quickly got back to focusing on running the business”.
For the 27 weeks to January 6, like-for-like sales grew by 1.9 per cent, or by 3.1 per cent for the second quarter. Total revenues for the half-year — including the impact of openings in Belfast, Solihull, Inverness and Putney, west London — grew by 10.6 per cent to £73.7 million.
The results provide further evidence of the widening performance gap between drinks-led and food-led operators over Christmas. Pub-restaurants and casual dining outlets have been hit by growing competition, while bars and traditional pubs have benefited from a continuing fall in supply.
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Stonegate has walked away, but Deltic remains interested in Revolution and is still sitting on a 3 per cent stake. Mr Edelman did not rule out the idea of a value-creating takeover, but he said that for now the group had “a lot of work to do”. Shares in Revolution fell by a penny to 167p, still well below the 203p level of Stonegate’s all-cash offer.