(Alliance News) - Revolution Bars Group PLC on Friday said it will close eight of its least profitable bars, as its younger customer base suffers disproportionately from the UK's cost-of-living crisis.
Shares in Revolution Bars fell 16% to 4.60 pence each in London on Friday morning.
The Tameside, England-based bar operator said the closures come in an attempt to reduce future site losses, pointing to a challenge from the 10.8% increase to the national living wage to come in April.
The closed venues include its Revolution bars in Beaconsfield, Derby, Reading, Liverpool and Wilmslow, as well as its Revolucion de Cubas bars in Sheffield, Southampton. The Playhouse in Newcastle will also shut down, it said.
Revolution Bars said it has begun negotiations for five of the eight bars to be transferred to other operators. It is also working through redeployment plans to "enable those team members affected to be offered alternative employment elsewhere in the group".
The bar operator continues to operate 58 bars and 22 pubs across the UK.
However, Revolution Bars said it had seen its best festive trading season in four years, with like-for-like sales rising 9.0% in the period from December 4 to 31. Despite this, it said group like-for-like sales for the first half - including New Year's Eve - remained negative at minus 2.8%.
It will update on its first-half trading later this month.
Chief Executive Officer Rob Pitcher said: "We have had the best festive trading period for four years with all of our brands recording positive like-for-like sales and Revolucion 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."
By Sabrina Penty, Alliance News reporter
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Rev Bars (RBG)