Assignment of Dirty Martini leases

Nightcap PLC

09 November 2023

 

9 November 2023

Nightcap plc

("Nightcap" or the "Company")

Assignment of Dirty Martini leases

Further to the Company's announcement on 9 June 2023, Nightcap (AIM: NGHT), the owner of The Cocktail Club, the Adventure Bar Group, Barrio Familia and the Dirty Martini group of bars, announces that it has completed the process of assigning the Dirty Martini leases from the administrator, Leonard Curtis Recovery Limited (the "Administrator").

When Nightcap acquired certain assets of DC Bars Limited and Tuttons Brasserie Limited, the operator of the 'Dirty Martini' chain of cocktail bars and Tuttons Brasserie, a critical part of the process was securing the assignment of leases for the key sites from the Administrator, with the consent from the relevant landlords.

The Company is pleased to announce that this process has now been successfully completed and Nightcap will continue trading in nine of the ten sites previously operated by DC Bars Limited.

Eight out of ten leases have been assigned on existing terms (only subject to rent reviews) and these assigned leases have expiry dates between 2030 and 2047.

One site previously operated by DC Bars Limited has not been assigned.  This is the Hanover Square site, where the Company could not agree with the landlord on reduced rental costs to make the site profitable, and therefore no agreement could be reached to keep trading at the site.

The Company has entered into a new three year lease for the Tuttons restaurant and Dirty Martini Covent Garden site. This lease covers a restaurant lease as well as the small downstairs cocktail bar. The new lease is on considerably more favourable commercial terms and is in line with Nightcap's objective to not remain as a restaurant operator in the long term.

The completion of the assignments secures 95% of the historic £23.7 million of aggregated annual revenue and all of the historic £3.9 million annual site EBITDA, based on DC Bars Limited's and Tuttons Brasserie Limited unaudited management accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022.

The Company will make a further announcement in due course in relation to deferred consideration for the acquisition.

Sarah Willingham, Chief Executive Officer of Nightcap, commented:

"The successful assignment of all of the important and profitable Dirty Martini leases completes the acquisition of Dirty Martini and preserves the majority of historic revenue and EBITDA which is the outcome we have worked hard to achieve since the acquisition in June 2023.

"We are exceptionally pleased with how well the staff across the Dirty Martini estate have embraced becoming part of Nightcap and we are excited by what the brand has brought to Nightcap, both in terms of great locations as well as the overall high quality of the estate."

For further enquiries:

Nightcap plc Sarah Willingham / Toby Rolph / Gareth Edwards	[e-mail]
Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker) Nick Naylor / Alex Brearley / Piers Shimwell (Corporate Finance) Jos Pinnington / Amrit Nahal (Sales and Corporate Broking)	[phone] www.allenbycapital.com
Bright Star Digital (PR) Pam Lyddon	https://www.brightstardigital.co.uk/ [phone] [e-mail]

 

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