Pre Close Statement

2 August 2022

Revolution Bars Group plc (LSE:RBG)

Pre Close Statement

Revolution Bars Group plc ("the Group"), a leading operator of 69 premium bars, trading mainly under the Revolution and Revolución de Cuba brands, is pleased to announce a trading and property related investment update for the year ended 2 July 2022 (FY22). 

Trading

We are pleased to confirm FY22 results are expected to be in line with expectations, which were upgraded in the announcement of 14 June 2022. Full year like-for-like1 ("LFL") sales of 1.3% have been delivered in our 56 English bars after 19 July 2021 when restrictions were fully lifted in England. This is a strong result given the disruption caused by the Omicron variant and subsequent plan B restrictions which were in place over the winter and the peak Christmas trading period. LFL1 sales for the full group, including Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, where restrictions on our trade were slower to lift, were 0.3% for the period after 19 July 2021.

We have not been immune to the widely reported inflationary pressures; however, we continue to mitigate these wherever possible with a relentless focus on cost management. Our industry leading sustainability agenda has allowed us to reduce our carbon footprint and mitigate, in part, the widely reported energy cost price increases. Our energy prices remain largely fixed until spring 2023. Our focus on training and retention has reduced the burden of colleague turnover ensuring we keep our best people in the business and allowing us to spend less on recruitment.

We are delighted to see our guests continuing to enjoy themselves in all our sites, particularly at our new openings and recently refurbished sites. While summer is a traditionally quieter time in our business, we are seeing Christmas bookings building much earlier than last year giving us confidence not only in a strong Christmas but also more generally that confidence has returned to the Corporate market.

Investment and expansion

Our refurbishment programme is on track with 19 refurbishments completed during the year, representing 28% of our LFL estate, and these are delivering returns in line with our payback target of two years. 16 of these refurbishments have been in Revolution branded sites and 3 in Revolución de Cuba sites. Additionally, we are excited to have successfully opened two new Revolution branded sites, in Exeter and Preston, and are encouraged by their initial trading. Our two new concepts, Founders & Co. and Playhouse, have initially been well received and we are excited about the potential opportunity for further expansion and the optionality this brings to the Group.

We continue to expect to refurbish a further 18 sites in FY23 alongside six planned new site openings, and have an exciting pipeline to deliver this.

Net cash as at 1 August 2022 was £2.6 million. We have significant and sufficient financial headroom to fund our future plans.

The Group intends to publish its Preliminary Results for the financial year ended 2 July 2022 on 18 October 2022.

Rob Pitcher, CEO of Revolution Bars Group, said:

"Revolution Bars Group is in great shape. The business is well positioned with a net cash position to fund our new site and refurbishment programme. It has been exciting to see the positive results of our refurbishment and expansion strategy this year and to see our young guests, who place real importance on socialising, continue to enjoy themselves in our bars.

Our vision and strategy to delight our guests is delivering. The business is well positioned to continue to progress, is well funded for our new site and refurbishment programme, and we are seeing Christmas bookings building much earlier than last year. Our success is thanks to the whole team's hard work and their ability to create fun and memorable experiences for our guests."

1Like-for-like (LFL) sales are same site sales defined as sales at only those venues that traded in the same week in both the current year and comparative reporting periods

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