Luminar on firmer footing after refinancing

Embattled nightclub operator has completed a refinancing exercise, granting its management team more time to turn around the business.

Luminar's backers Lloyds TSB, Barclays Capital and The Royal Bank of Scotland have agreed to a revised three year facility of £99m.

The new facility comprises two term loans of £44m and £40m repayable over three years and a revolving credit facility of £15m. The weighted average cash interest rate for the new facility is 7.8%.

Luminar will take an £8m exceptional charge in the current financial year as a consequence relating to termination of exiting LIBOR swaps, the restructuring itself and professional fees.

The operator's banking syndicate also gain equity warrants over 5% of Luminar's existing issued share capital (at a subscription price per warrant share equal to the current nominal value of 25 pence per share) as a condition of the deal.

Philip Bowcock, finance director, said: "We are pleased to have the continued support of our banking group and to have concluded these negotiations. With the new facility in place and many new operational initiatives recently undertaken Luminar has a firmer foundation from which to progress."

Releasing its interim results in October, the operator revealed a fall in like-for-like sales of more than 20%, stating there had been a slight improvement in the seven weeks since.

The results revealed that admission revenue had fallen by 26.5% on footfall down by 19.1%, while drinks revenue was down by 18.1%. Overall sales in the continuing business for the period totalled £68.2m, a reduction of 20.8% on the previous year.