Disco inferno as nightclub operator put up for sale
BRITAIN’S largest nightclub operator has put itself up for sale as it battles for survival following seven months of closure.
Deltic Group, which owns 52 nightclubs under the Oceana and Pryzm brands, has begun a sale process while it considers other restructuring options, i ncluding a company voluntary arrangement.
Peter Marks, chief executive of Deltic Group, said that the company would run out of cash by December without securing a rescue plan.
“We have to look at every option going and part of that is to see what other capital is out there to get the business through this,” he told the Financial Times.
Nightclubs and licensed adult entertainment venues are the only two industries that have been prevented from reopening since the Government put the country into lockdown in March.
Deltic has managed to reopen about a 10th of its total floor area operating as bars in recent weeks, but Mr Marks said this was only bringing in some £80,000 a month. The group is burning through £1m every month. Half the workforce – 1,000 staff – have been made redundant, while further cuts had been avoided courtesy of additional support f rom the Government’s Job Support Scheme.
About 10 parties have expressed an interest in buying Deltic, Mr Marks said – mostly private equity firms along with
a small number of t rade buyers. Accountancy firm BDO is overseeing the sale process.
A Deltic spokesman said: “The prolonged impact of Covid-19 on the UK’S late-night sector has been well publicised.
“Deltic’s Board has been considering the options available to it and confirms it has launched an accelerated merger and acquisition process as part of a plan to secure the company’s future.”