Novus claims sales boom for London
Novus. the bar operator that was called Urbium before being taken private, has reported trade in London is "booming".
The company - which has just completed its first full financial year since an offer by private equity firm Electra Partners to take it private was declared unconditional - is claiming double-digit sales growth in its key market.
Chief executive Steve Richards said: "Two weeks ago we had our highest sales ever, outside of the two Christmas weeks. Business in the West End is booming, with double digit sales growth." Its flagship site, Tiger Tiger in Haymarket, is enjoying 5% growth in like-for-likes - nine years after it first opened.
Richards also reported double-digit sales growth at its seven City of London sites, driven by sales of "Champagne and cocktails". Abacus, its first site, takes £100,000 per week.
Novus, whose average per-site takings per week are around £67,000, operates nine sites outside of London with sites as far afield as Aberdeen and Portmouth.
It has seen mixed fortunes in the regions in the past. The lease on its Tiger Tiger site in Birmingham was assigned to another operator after poor trading a few years ago, but reverted to the company when the assignee went into administrative receivership, prompting a vacant property provision of £500,000 last year. The Birmingham site has now been re-let and Novus is seeing better results at its other sites outside of the M25.
Said Richards: "The regions have really struggled and we've had to fight hard. But we've returned to like-for-like growth in the north in our last quarter."
Novus, which runs 37 venues, sees 35% to 40% of its total revenues from pre-booked corporate events and only 20% of its turnover comes after 11pm - with just 4% coming from door income.
The company's most recent opening is a "smaller footprint" bar, Longacre, in Covent Garden's Longacre, where takings are around the £35,000-£40,000 per week mark despite the absence of a late licence - 50% of sales come from food and wine.
