Sale of 28 Restaurants for Pa

RNS Number : 7485W

Christie Group PLC

25 November 2010

 



25 November 2010

Christie Group plc

Completion of Mandate on 28 Restaurants

on behalf of Paramount Restaurants

Christie Group plc, the leading provider of professional business services and stock & inventory systems & services to the leisure, retail and care markets, announces that, acting on behalf of Paramount Restaurants, Christie + Co, its agency division, has sold the leasehold interests of 28 of the company's non-core assets, with all but two sites acquired by established corporate operators.

The 28 units comprised 12 Brasserie Gerards; eight Caffè Unos; four il Bertorellis; three Bertorellis; and one Chez Gerard. Occupying prime town and city centre locations, these sites were some of the best quality restaurants to come onto the market in over two years.

Christie + Co and Paramount worked closely with landlords and buyers during the campaign, with significant premiums being achieved on several sites.

The sites were acquired by 12 different parties, with 26 bought by established corporate operators, including Tragus, Gondola Holdings, Prezzo, Giraffe, Costa Coffee and Busaba Eathai, whilst the remaining two sites were sold to individual private buyers.

The average price paid for each restaurant was in excess of £250,000, whilst geographically the spread was six in Central London; 10 inside the M25; and 12 throughout the rest of the UK.

Commenting on the completion of the mandate, Simon Chaplin, Head of Restaurants at Christie + Co, said:

"The disposal of these 28 restaurants underlines what we have been saying for the last two years, that despite the tough trading environment, buyers will quickly appear for well-located and realistically priced assets, especially those that they can quickly turnaround at minimum cost. It also showed that premiums could still be achieved in a challenging market.

"The fact that the majority of the sites were acquired by experienced operators or established casual dining brands highlights that these companies are currently driving both transactional activity and performance across the sector and the country."

Enquiries:

David Rugg                                                     020 7227 0707

Chief Executive

Christie Group plc

Russell Cook / Carl Holmes                           020 7149 6000

Charles Stanley Securities

Nominated Adviser & Broker

Tom Cooper                                                    0797 122 1972

Winningtons                                                    [e-mail] 

Notes to Editors:

Christie Group plc (CTG.L), quoted on AIM, is a leading professional business services group with 31 offices across the UK, Europe and Canada, catering to its specialist markets in the leisure, retail and care sectors.

Christie Group operates in two complementary business divisions: Professional Business Services (PBS) and Stock & Inventory Systems & Services (SISS). These divisions trade under the brand names: PBS - Christie + Co, Pinders, Christie Finance and Christie Insurance: SISS - Orridge, Venners and Vennersys.

Tracing its origins back to 1846, the Group has a long established reputation for offering essential services to client companies in agency, valuation services, investment, consultancy, project management, multi-functional trading systems and online ticketing services, stock audit and inventory management. The diversity of these services provides a natural balance to the Group's agency business.

For more information, please go to www.christiegroup.com.

 

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