Regent Inns has identified PALS, its high street premium-bar concept, as a third brand and intends to open up to six more this year.
The group announced expansion plans as it revealed results for the six months to the end of December.
Chief executive Stephen Haupt said the PALS pilot sites at Croydon and Ipswich had gone well and the company was ready to press ahead with expansion. "We have been looking for a third brand for some time," he said. "Three brands is manageable, we could even go to four. The key is having seperate teams focused on each concept."
Trading at Jongleurs, the comedy-club chain, and the adjoining Bar Risa, had been hit by September 11 but recovered to expected levels over Christmas and New Year. "I think people were less inclined to go to a comedy club," said Mr Haupt. "Given the circumstances I think many felt it would be inappropriate. The autumn and winter is usually when Jongleurs peaks and it has recovered now."
Unbranded pubs in central London had also suffered - like-for-like sales fell 4.7 per cent. The group announced it will dispose of 13 outlets from the discrete estate.
The package of pubs will be sold to former operations director Peter Mackie, who now runs Broken Foot Inns, for £8.1m. The deal represents nearly a fifth of the discrete estate.
"We can see a much greater return from investing £8.1m in a brand like Walkabout than we can from the discrete side of our business," said finance director Simon Rowe.
The branded estate now accounts for 60 per cent of group turnover compared to just 20 per cent three years ago.
Regent said Walkabout, its Australian-themed brand, continued to deliver outstanding results and was ripe for further rollout. The 26 Walkabouts delivered like-for-like sales growth of 13.3 per cent.
The group was on-track to open 50 Walkabouts, and 20 Jongleurs, by 2003. It currently has a further 19 properties in the pipeline.
Group profits for the six months rose 5.6 per cent to £7.7m on sales up 20.1 per cent, to £59.3m. Average weekly sales per branded outlet were £52,000-a-week in PALS, £44,000-a-week for Walkabout and £42,000 in Jongleurs.
During the five weeks of the Christmas and New Year period, sales were up 4.1 per cent, on a like-for-like basis. In the week before Christmas, Walkabout venues averaged sales of £54,000, and Jongleurs hit £94,000.