Banks grant Luminar further extension
The banking group behind Luminar has agreed to a three-month extension to the covenant waiver it arranged with Britain's biggest nightclub operator in May.
It came as the company announced that trading for the 25 weeks to 20 August had remained challenging with sales down 11.7%.
Luminar said that Lloyds TSB, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland had agreed to a further extension to the covenant waiver granted in May from 27 August to 27 October to enable it to continue "constructive discussions" in respect of a longer term restructuring of its debt arrangements.
It said that during this period its banks have agreed to continue to afford the group flexibility in managing its liquidity levels. Luminar said that the banks remained supportive of its management and strategy.
Earlier this week, the company announced it had replaced PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) with KPMG as its auditor after eight years, leading to speculation about its future and that its backers were losing patience.
The nightclub operator said that same outlet sales for the 25 weeks to 20 August were down 11.7%. It said that although trading had seen a gradual improvement over the period, the riots earlier this month had had "an adverse effect with trading in certain locations materially impacted".
It said that during the 13 weeks prior to the civil unrest same outlet sales were down 7.9%.
During the period, the company sold four properties for a combined sum of £3.7m.
The company will announce its interim results for the 26-week period to 27 August 2011 on 27 October 2011.
