Luke Johnson has insisted Eclectic Bar Group will need to diversify in order to have a sustainable future and said that could come through acquisition.
Johnson was announced yesterday as the new chairman of the late-night operator, which floated last year but has seen sales struggle since.
He described chief executive Reuben Harley as “one of the most competent people in the industry” but said the industry was in a difficult state and said he hoped he could help turn around the company’s fortune.
It has already been suggested that parts of Novus Leisure, Intertain and the aforementioned Kornicis could come on to the group’s radar. On the back of Johnson’s appointment the company’s shares climbed 29% to close yesterday at 62.5p.
He said: “ In terms of what I would hope to see from Eclectic over the coming months and years are a focus on costs – particularly central costs. I think there needs to be some retrenching of the portfolio to concentrate on the winners and then diversification because at the moment it is very biased towards late-night. A broader leisure offering might be the way to go. Quite possibly that will come through acquisition because that gets you to where you want to be a lot faster.
On the late-night model, Johnson said: “I do think people want somewhere to go and dance and socialise and drink and that’s not going to change. It entirely depends on the town or city and the offer from the site. You have to evolve and sometimes it might make more sense to offer more food or focus on a more daytime offering, there isn’t a formula that you can apply to every site.”
