'Confident' Jones shrugs off attack

Ultimate Leisure chief executive Mark Jones shrugged off the attack this week from his predecessor (see above). He said that latest half-year results show his group is making progress towards reinventing itself as a premium-bar operator that could grow to more than 100 sites in the next few years.

Despite reporting just £2,000 pre-tax profit, against last year's £1.6m, Jones said that Ultimate's investment programme was almost complete and that he felt "confident about future prospects".

Ultimate enjoyed a

"satisfactory" Christmas, when like-for-like growth was 1%, and an encouraging start to the new half-year, with total sales up 7.5%. Turnover was up 4% to £18.2m in the half-year to 31 December.

Shareholders are

expected to approve a £25m share issue next week. "That, plus our bank facility, will give us £75m to spend on acquisitions, which will let us play a major part in consolidation in the high street. Staying at our current size of 35 sites is not going to achieve returns our shareholders want," said Jones, who went on to claim that food and all-day trading were the keys to future growth.

"We're moving away from being just a late-night operator, and although we'll keep a core of nightclubs, we'll be more about

good-value and premium food offers in stylish, contemporary bars," he said.

A new food development role has just been created at Ultimate, and staff are receiving intensive food training. From a small base, food sales grew 300% against the same period last year.

Preparations for the

impending smoking-ban

are well advanced, with two-thirds of sites offering outside solutions. Ultimate's nightclubs, along with its rivals, have a harder job to cope, said Jones.

Ten sites were closed for extensive refurbishment in the past six months, and of the eight more receiving investment, only two have still to start their upgrades.

ends