High street operators report mixed fortunes

Regent Inns, which operates the Walkabout and Jongleurs comedy venues chains, claims to have had a good World Cup, with England remaining in the tournament to the quarter finals and Australia making it through to the group stage against all predictions.

Updating investors on market conditions for the month of June and 52 weeks ended July 1, prior to releasing its preliminary results on September 26, Regent said trading over the last four weeks had been in line with management expectations.

England's five game run in the World Cup as well as Australia's longer-than-expected time in the tournament boosted trade, the group said..

Underlying trade on the High Street continued to be tough, but chairman Bob Ivell said he believed Regent had performed "better than most, although you'd expect us to do well in World Cup season".

Strong brands and playing to the group's strengths - operating sports-oriented venues - were behind the success of Regent, he added.

The group remained a consolidation play, Mr Ivell noted, adding that this could still mean the group acquiring another player or being taken over if the right offer were to be tabled.

Regent announced last month that talks with a potential suitor, believed to be venture capitalist group Alchemy Partners, had been called off.

Elsewhere on the High Street, late-night operator Luminar revealed to its annual general meeting that like-for-like sales in the group's core businesses for the first 19 weeks of the year to July 13 down eight per cent, although continuing operations saw a rise of 1.6 per cent on the prior year.

Pointing the finger at the World Cup and the unusually hot weather, Luminar chairman Keith Hamill admitted that while the group's management had "anticipated a weakening in the trading position, the extent to which these factors have impacted the business has been disappointing".

The group did not update the market on progress regarding the disposal of the Entertainment division.

Analyst Mark Brumby of Oriel Securities said Luminar's statement "did not make particularly pleasant reading".

Mr Brumby said he believed Luminar's trade had picked up by two to three per cent in recent weeks, "which still puts the group down by five to six per cent".