ESC.L Share News (ESC)

(Sharecast News) - Escape rooms experience operator Escape Hunt announced further progress on its UK owner-operated estate on Monday, confirming that the formal opening of its newest site in Watford was now scheduled for 27 December.
The AIM-traded firm said the fit-out was progressing well, and was expected to be completed on time and on budget.

It said the site at Watford represented a milestone, as the games rooms had been constructed using the company's next generation designs, which were fully modular.

That modular design would enable the rooms to be moved and re-installed within the company's estate at a later stage much more effectively and cost efficiently, and also provided another delivery option to the franchise network.

Watford would be the company's 13th owner-operated site in the UK, and the 14th in the portfolio, including Dubai.

In addition, Escape Hunt said it had recently exchanged contracts on a large site in Kingston, with completion expected in early January.

Modular games rooms for Kingston had already been produced, and were currently in transit, with the site expected to open in the first quarter of 2021 as the 15th owner-operated site.

"Despite tier 2 and tier 3 restrictions placing a significant strain on our industry at the moment, we remain encouraged by the performance of our estate when open, and are delighted with the progress being made with our digital propositions underpinning our 'Escape Hunt for Business' product strategy," said chief executive officer Richard Harpham.

"Both aspects provide cautious optimism for our future prospects once restrictions are fully lifted, and it is exciting to be able to bolster our UK estate with a number of fabulous new sites which may not have been attainable 12 months ago."

At 1100 GMT, shares in Escape Hunt were down 0.65% at 15.4p.