Leisure Report articles from November 2005

Leisure Report archives from November 2005

HgCapital captures Sporting Index.
November 1, 2005... HgCapital, the European sector-focused private equity investor, announced it had agreed to acquire Sporting Index Group from Duke Street Capital for a total cash consideration of 75.8m [pounds sterling]. Management will continue to manage...

Leisure & Gaming buys Stanley's 1.86m [pounds sterling] e-casino.
November 1, 2005... Leisure & Gaming (LNG), the AIM-listed interactive betting and gaming company, has acquired Stanley Entertainment NV, the online casino business of Stanley Leisure, for 1.86m [pounds sterling]. The consideration is payable in cash and a...

A world of opportunities.(Inside track)
November 1, 2005... Sometime around 350BC, Demosthenes, the Greek orator and politician, stated that "small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises," a sentiment which rings as true today as ever. What he failed to mention, however, was how you...

Leisure Acquisition Survey 2006 is launched.(News)
November 1, 2005... Leisure Report has again partnered with Livingstone Guarantee, the leading mid-market corporate finance boutique specialising in transactions with values between 5 [pounds sterling] and 100m [pounds sterling]-plus and one of the most active...

OFT refers Vue/Ster deal.(News)
November 1, 2005... The Office of Fair Trading referred the completed acquisition by Vue Entertainment of A3 Cinema, including its subsidiary, Ster Century (UK), to the Competition Commission. The OFT decided "that the test for reference is met in relation to...

Little Chef lives on as duo fork out 52m [pounds sterling] for the brand.(News)
November 1, 2005... Lawrence Wosskow and Simon Heath, the founders of Out of Town Restaurant Group, have bought the Little Chef chain from Permira in a cash deal valued at 52m [pounds sterling]. Under their new vehicle, The People's Restaurant Group, the...

Betfair chief quits in float row.
November 1, 2005... Betfair chief executive Stephen Hill resigned after the group confirmed it had postponed plans for a flotation until after next year's football World Cup. There are rumours of further discontent in the exchange's boardroom.

New faces at Arena and Top Ten.(appointments at Arena Leisure and Top Ten Holdings )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Mark Elliott, former chief executive of Wembley, has been named as the new chief executive of Arena Leisure, while following its listing on AIM, Top Ten Holdings announced a boardroom reshuffle which has seen Graham Kerr becomes group managing...

VC man joins IFX.
November 1, 2005... Interactive Gaming Holdings appointed of Graham Doyle, formerly of Victor Chandler and IFX Group, to the board.

GameAccount eyes 100m [pounds sterling] AIM float.
November 1, 2005... Internet gambling site GameAccount is to seek a listing by Christmas on AIM, which could value it at 100m [pounds sterling]. The company hosts online tournaments for backgammon, gin rummy and blackjack, as well as staging golf, pool and darts...

Trident looks to IPO on the junior market.
November 1, 2005... Isle of Man-based Trident Gaming also wants to join AIM within the next few months in a 100m [pounds sterling] flotation. Trident specialises in sports betting and recently acquired Gamebookers, an online gambling company.

Playtech reviewing strategic options.
November 1, 2005... Playtech, which provides on-line gaming software, has hired stockbroker Collins Stewart to explore strategic options for the company, valued at 500m [pounds sterling].

Bridgepoint mulls move.
November 1, 2005... Moliflor Loisirs, which operates 20 casinos in France, could be a 450m [euro] target for Bridgepoint. Any deal will be subject to strict regulatory approvals.

Red faces at Empire Online as it goes from bull to hear in a week and stuns investors.(Betting & gaming news)
November 1, 2005... Empire Online, which directs traffic to gambling businesses, further undermined the City's confidence in the online poker market when it issued a profits warning, little more than a week after an producing upbeat trading update for the third...

Sportingbet beats the odds.(Betting & gaming news)
November 1, 2005... Shrugging off the woes affecting much of the rest of the sector, Sportingbet, the leading online gaming group, posted an impressive set of figures for the year to 31 July, with an operating profit in excess of 175m [pounds sterling]. ...

Commission sets out its stall.(Gambling Commission published its draft 'Statement of Principles' )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... The Gambling Commission has published its draft 'Statement of Principles' for consultation. The document sets out the values and principles which will govern the manner in which the Commission will regulate gambling. Among the issues...

Casino Advisory Panel named.(Betting & gaming news)
November 1, 2005... An independent panel to advise the government on the areas in which the new types of casino created by the Gambling Act will be located has been appointed. The Casino Advisory Panel is chaired by Professor Stephen Crow, who will be...

Gala strengthens its position with Coral deal.(Gala Group Ltd. bought Coral Eurobet)
November 1, 2005... Gala Group has completed a deal to buy Coral Eurobet for 2.18bn [pounds sterling]. The deal will merge Gala's entire estate of bingo halls and casinos with Coral's network of betting shops as well as its two dog tracks. Coral Eurobet was...

Ladbrokes mulls Rank bid to create gaming behemoth.(Betting & gaming news)
November 1, 2005... Ladbrokes is considering making a bid for Rank Group, owner of Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos, once its proposed demerger from Hilton's hotel arm is completed, Dominic Walsh reported in The Times. There is also said to be strong...

Cantor Fitzgerald launches branded casino and gaming offer for its investors.(Betting & gaming news)
November 1, 2005... Cantor Fitzgerald has announced the launch of Cantor Casino, an online casino offering customers a range of games including roulette, blackjack, video poker and slots, mini baccarat, and two popular Asian games, Pai Gow and Sic Bo. The...

Branson buys back Virgin Active stake.(Sir Richard Branson to pay 134.5m [pounds sterling] for a 55% stake)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Sir Richard Branson has taken full control of Virgin Active after agreeing to pay Bridgepoint 134.5m [pounds sterling] for a 55% stake. He now hopes to increase the value of the business to about 500m [pounds sterling], through expansion...

Leisure outperforms again at troubled JJB Sports.
November 1, 2005... JJB Sports reported a 35.8% drop in first-half operating profit to 17.6m [pounds sterling] during the 26 weeks ended 31 July 2005, but the group's continuing struggles in the retail environment were offset by another encouraging show from its...

Misra succeeds Harm Tegelaars.(Health & fitness news)
November 1, 2005... Cannons has announced that its chief executive, Harm Tegelaars, is to step down. He will be replaced by current chief operating officer Arnu Misra, but will stay on at Cannons as non-executive deputy chairman. Reportedly, the company has...

Health club role for pubs boss Thorley.(Health & fitness news)
November 1, 2005... Punch Taverns' chief executive Giles Thorley is to become a non-executive director of Esporta, ahead of a planned acquisition programme and possible flotation. The operator has also appointed Citigroup to advise on opportunities for...

De Vere turnover up; leisure spend holds.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... De Vere Group reported underlying turnover for the year to 25 September up 7.3%. At the company's health and fitness brands, like-for-like sales growth was buoyed by a strong increase in membership numbers in the first haft. In Village,...

Tough trading conditions take shine off Crown.(Crown Sports reported interim results for the six months )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Crown Sports, the last-remaining listed fitness operator in the UK, unveiled a downbeat set of interim results for the six months to 30 June 2005. Turnover fell to 10.8m [pounds sterling], from 12m [pounds sterling] last time out,...

New five-a-side player lists as Powerleague nets gains.(Pantheon Leisure)
November 1, 2005... Pantheon Leisure, a company formed to acquire businesses in the leisure sector, began trading on AIM at the end of September. The company raised 750,000 [pounds sterling] through the placing of 25 million new ordinary shares at 3p, valuing the...

Soccercity secures loan from Coors while Goals scores award.(Sport news)
November 1, 2005... Taskcatch, the holding company behind the Soccercity five-a-side football facility brand, has secured a 150,000 [pounds sterling] loan from Coors Brewers. Taskcatch also said it was changing its trading name to Soccercity, as of 17 October. ...

Blades sharpened.(Sport news)
November 1, 2005... Sheffield United announced that, as part of its commitment to diversifying its business, it has appointed Jason Rockett to the board as chief executive, with effect from 1 November. Rockett, a former professional footballer, played for...

Leisure Report LR Index football stockwatch.
November 1, 2005... The two big stories this month came from two of the smaller clubs on the index. As Leisure Report went to press, it emerged that Vladimir Romanov, owner of Hearts, had increased his stake in the surprise Scottish league leaders to 55.5%, and...

Irish cinema firm makes 60m [pounds sterling] move for 11 Terra Firma sites.(Cinema & entertainment news)
November 1, 2005... Private equity firm Terra Firma has agreed the sale of a portfolio of 11 cinemas, including the landmark UCI Empire Leicester Square, to Ireland's Cinema Holdings for an estimated 80m [euro] (60m [pounds sterling]). Cinema Holdings, a...

Ultimate warns on profits after 'challenging' year.(Cinema & entertainment news)
November 1, 2005... Ultimate Leisure reported a 6% fall in pre-tax profit for the year to 30 June to 8.4m [pounds sterling]. Turnover at the late-night bar and nightclub operator was up by 2% to 36.4m [pounds sterling], with operating profit down to 8.9m [pounds...

Bowlplex sees corporate rise.(corporate party package bookings)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Entertainment and tenpin centre Bowlplex has announced that corporate party package bookings have taken a sharp increase entering the winter period. The Dorset-based company, which operates 15 sites across the UK, said it has seen corporate...

Vue flies the flag.(Cinema & entertainment news)
November 1, 2005... Vue Entertainment, the UK's third-largest cinema chain, was the only cinema operator listed among the Sunday Times list of the top 250 mid-market companies. Vue registered sales of 169.4m [pounds sterling] in 2004, rising from 100m [pounds...

Hippodrome club closes after licence request rejection.(Cirque nightclub, Westminster City Council )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Westminster City Council has turned down a new licence request for the Cirque nightclub at the Hippodrome, located on Cranbourn Street, London. Following the recommendation of the Metropolitan Police, the council's Licensing Committee...

BTI study finds healthy worldwide hotel trade.(Tourism & attraction news)
November 1, 2005... Travel management company BTI UK has released a new survey that finds the worldwide hotel trade alive and kicking. According to the firm's report, Moscow, Rome and Bangalore top the world's cities for growth in room rate, while Paris, still...

Interested parties prepare Parkdean pitches.(Parkdean Holidays)
November 1, 2005... Just a month after announcing that full-year profits would likely fall below market expectations, thanks to "more challenging trading conditions than at any time in its history," Parkdean Holidays has announced that "it is engaged in...

Center Parcs "cautiously optimistic" on full-year results.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Center Pares said that it was "cautiously optimistic for the full year, as it reported a 5.6% increase in turnover in the first 20 weeks. Speaking at the company's AGM, Martin Robinson, the group's chairman, said that profitability and forward...

Timeshare brings 205m [pounds sterling] to UK economy.(Tourism & attraction news)
November 1, 2005... Timeshare contributes at least 205m [pounds sterling] to the UK economy every year, according to the Organisation for Timeshare in Europe. Peter van der Mark of OTE said: "The beauty of the timeshare concept is that by selling a lifetime...

London attacks hit occupancy, says TRI.(London Terrorist Bombings, 2005)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... More evidence of the effect of the London bombings has emerged, from TRI Hospitality Consulting. Its latest HotStats survey of 475 hotels, found that in August, revpar fell to 57.77 [pounds sterling], a drop of 9%, for London properties....

State of the art gym facilities for Camden residents.(redeveloping Kentish Town Sports Centre)
November 1, 2005... Camden residents will soon have a chance to give their views on a possible design for redeveloping Kentish Town Sports Centre. The proposed new design would create top quality modern leisure facilities, renovate the existing building and...

Leisure plans for Llanelli coastline.(town centre redevelopment)(Welsh Development Agency teams up with Carmarthenshire County council )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... The Welsh Development Agency and Carmarthenshire County council have teamed up for the Llanelli Coast Joint Venture, a project established to redevelop a 100-acre site south of Llanelli town centre, overlooking Carmarthen Bay and the Gower...

Soccer clubs to mull casino resorts.(Property news)
November 1, 2005... The football fraternity will be considering a similar move to Glasgow Rangers, which was granted permission last month for a 120m [pounds sterling] casino and hotel complex beside its Copeland Road, in the south of the Scottish city. Some...

UK REIT legislation is still uncertain, delegates are told.(Property news)
November 1, 2005... After 18 months of consultation, the government is no closer to revealing its proposed legislation on Real Estate Investment Trusts, delegates at the European Hotel Finance & Investment Summit were told last month. The government has...

Leisure arm helps Restaurant Group lift profits.(Food & drink news)
November 1, 2005... The Restaurant Group reported a 3% increase in like-for-like sales for the six months to 30 June, fuelled by a strong performance from its Leisure and Concessions businesses. Pre-tax profit at the group was up 21.8% at 11.9m [pounds...

McDonald's under pressure to sell sites as brand value drops.(Food & drink news)
November 1, 2005... The value of the McDonald's brand has dropped 10.4% between 2000 and 2004, to $25bn (14.08bn [pounds sterling]), according to The World's Most Valuable Brands, published by The Economist. The firm is now coming under increasing pressure...

Coffee Republic narrows losses.(restructuring)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Coffee Republic has unveiled narrowing losses and "marginally positive" like-for-like sales in the full year to 27 March. It said that a restructuring of the business and the development of its deli concept, which is delivering sales increases...

Starbucks.(Over the counter)
November 1, 2005... Starbucks reported net revenues of $653m for September, up almost 4.5% on the year. Michael Casey, the chief financial officer, said: "We are very pleased by the double digit same store sales growth in September but we expect comparable store...

Burger King.(Over the counter)
November 1, 2005... Burger King has snubbed Government attempts to make its products healthier by reducing the levels of salt, fat and sugar. Instead it is concentrating on making them as "tasty" as possible and is introducing the "Enormous Omelette Sandwich",...

Domino's Pizza.(Over the counter)
November 1, 2005... Domino's Pizza UK & Ireland is to return 7m [pounds sterling] cash to shareholders through a tender offer. Broker Numis Securities is to handle the offer, purchasing up to 2.215m shares at 316 pence per share. The shares represent around 4% of...

Compass Group.(plans to sell SSP, UK and Continental European travel)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Compass Group has confirmed plans to sell SSP, its UK and Continental European travel concessions operations. The group said it would retain a small part of the business, mainly in Japan, Portugal and the US where the operations were closely...

Yum!(Over the counter)
November 1, 2005... KFC and Pizza Hut brand owner Yum! Brands reported worldwide operating profit up by 10% while same-store sales increased by 2% for the third quarter.

Leisure 'missing out by not trading online'.(Industry news)
November 1, 2005... Businesses in the leisure sector, such as theatres, which have yet to get on board the internet bandwagon could be missing out on potential windfalls. Research commissioned by Barclaycard Business shows that 80% of consumers expect...

Senior launches Utopian group.(Bob Senior launched Utopian Leisure Group)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Bob Senior, the former chief executive of Ultimate Leisure, has launched a new company, called Utopian Leisure Group. Utopian has a debt facility of 50m [pounds sterling] with Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest. Tim Wynn, the former...

Poor disabled access costs 5bn [pounds sterling].(Industry news)
November 1, 2005... The hospitality industry could be missing out on 5bn [pounds sterling] because of a lack of accessibility for the disabled, according to new research. A study commissioned by Caterer magazine found that nearly half of all disabled...

UK consumers lower leisure spend says MasterCard.(Industry news)
November 1, 2005... The leisure industry has been hit by the British public's flagging faith in credit cards, according to MasterCard. The company recently revealed that during September, UK consumers spending on MasterCard branded cards was down 1.2% against...

Licensing Act review bought forward.(Industry news)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... The government has confirmed that it is to review the Licensing Act three months after it comes into force, nine months earlier than previous stated. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: "This will be a review of the guidance,...

Hospitality sector's new wage grapple.(Industry news)
November 1, 2005... A likely increase in the base level of the National Minimum Wage next year has made the hospitality industry ill at ease. On 1 October 2005, the hourly minimum wage rose to 5.05 [pounds sterling], however, the Low Pay Commission (LPC) is...

From Russia to Roma, with love: David Minton reports on the key issues from the recent international fitness conferences.(Comment--IHRSA and MIOFF report)(Column)
November 1, 2005... The deputy mayor of St Petersburg told me two years ago that Russia was once one of the most closed societies in the world, and now it is one of the most open. After attending the 3rd Moscow International Open Fitness Festival (MIOFF) I can...

Is loyalty dead? Andy Wood, managing director of Total DM, says loyalty schemes are here to stay.(trends and forecast of loyalty programs of marketing)
November 1, 2005... Just after the turn of the millennium, many pundits started claiming that loyalty schemes might be falling out of fashion. Safeway cancelled its scheme. Sainsbury's decided to join a coalition scheme rather than run its own. However, the...

Championing competition--stay ahead of the game: Sue Hankey from CMS Cameron McKenna takes an in-depth look at competition law.(Legal--Competition law)
November 1, 2005... Competition law deals with cartels, other anticompetitive agreements, abuse of a dominant position, merger control, market investigations and state aid. Two complementary regimes apply in the UK: the EU's European Commission, and the domestic...

Championing competition--understand the OFT's position: Penny Boys, executive director of the OFT, says SMEs need to know the law and use it.(Legal--Competition law)
November 1, 2005... A commitment to cutting 'red-tape' and liberarising markets has made the British economy one of the most competitive in Europe. The challenge for UK businesses is to help create a dynamic knowledge-based economy, which can deliver sustainable...

What a tangled web we weave; John Harrison, chief executive of Maxsi, explains why web analytics is crucial to the leisure industry.(Business Sense--Web Analytics)
November 1, 2005... Web analytics may sound like something your IT department should deal with but it is in fact a key part of online marketing. Its primary function is measuring how well a web site is doing its job. The leisure industry is spending millions...

How to play the venture-capital game; private equity investors are always interested in people who can add value, says entrepreneur Chris Hutt.(Business Sense--Venture capital)
November 1, 2005... Ten years ago private equity was a rare thing in the UK. Today, thousands of pubs, restaurants and hotels are in, or have passed through, private-equity hands. A combination of property backing, steady cash flows and readily available cheap...

You've got to know when to hold 'em: Dominic Walsh puts some perspective on the volatility of online gaming stocks.(Behind the headlines--Online gaming)
November 1, 2005... They say that an ability to hold your nerve is the key to a successful poker player and that it is a quality that, for most people, only comes through experience. Well, judged by that criterion, the stock market looks like a nervous novice....

Leisure Report LR Index leisure stockwatch October 2005.(Sharewatch & diary dates)
November 1, 2005... October has been a miserable month for listed leisure firms, with the vast majority of companies seeing a slide in their share price. Bucking the downward trend was Parkdean, which received a fillip after the holiday park operator revealed...

Diary dates.
November 1, 2005... October Event: Technofolies Date: 27-29 Location: Genoa, Italy Description: The new international event devoted to the Attractions industry. A unique and innovative event, to discover new products and services, to get in...