Six Continents has published the time table for its forthcoming demerger. Unconditional trading in the shares of the new Mitchells & Butlers pub and restaurant company and InterContinental Hotels Group, the new name for its hotels business, and will start on April 15.
The cost of the separation and market listings is put at £51m, although total costs will be closer to £109m, when £30m relating to transfer taxes and the £28m cost of new bank facilities are taken into account.
As part of the split, £700m in cash, or 81 pence per existing share, will be returned to shareholders. It is expected that SixC shareholders will receive 50 new InterContinental shares and 50 new Mitchells & Butlers shares for every 59 Six Continents shares held.
The process is subject to EGM approval on 12 March. After that unconditional dealings in shares in the two new companies will start on the London and New York Stock Exchanges on 15 April.
Mitchells & Butlers, the new name for the retail business, will be the UK's leading operator of managed pubs, with sales of approximately £1.5bn, EBITDA of £375m, operating profit of £289m (for the financial year 2002), and an estate of over 2,100 pubs, bars and restaurants. At 30 September, M&B had tangible fixed assets with a net book value of approximately £3.5 billion, including £0.7 billion of revaluation.
The listing release highlights the track record of the current M&B management team, which since 1995 has raised managed operating profit from £160 million in 1994 to £289 million in 2002. " M&B has a strong financial track record with post-tax cash return on cash capital employed of over 10 per cent per annum for the last three financial
Years," it says.
The new company is promising shareholders dividend growth through a lower capex requirement, as the conversion of the former Allied Domecq estate comes to an end, overhead cuts, an increase in retail staff productivity, and an increase in individual sites disposals.
Net debt at the end of the financial year 2003, following the separation and proposed return of capital is estimated to be around £1.3bn. This includes the intended 2003 net capital expenditure of around £140m on the M&B estate.
The Britvic soft drinks business will go with the new hotels company.
Potential buyers will be eyeing up both companies. Hugh Osmond's Sun Capital Partners and Cinven are among those said to be interested in the pubs and restaurants business. Some observers believe that, under Six Continents' current chief executive, Tim Clarke, the pubs division may eventually be linked up with to Scottish & Newcastle's pub interests.
The hotels division, which wiil be run by Six Continents' finance director, Richard North, could attract interest from property and financial buyers as well as from hotel competitors.
The cost of the separation and market listings is put at £51m, although total costs will be closer to £109m, when £30m relating to transfer taxes and the £28m cost of new bank facilities are taken into account.
As part of the split, £700m in cash, or 81 pence per existing share, will be returned to shareholders. It is expected that SixC shareholders will receive 50 new InterContinental shares and 50 new Mitchells & Butlers shares for every 59 Six Continents shares held.
The process is subject to EGM approval on 12 March. After that unconditional dealings in shares in the two new companies will start on the London and New York Stock Exchanges on 15 April.
Mitchells & Butlers, the new name for the retail business, will be the UK's leading operator of managed pubs, with sales of approximately £1.5bn, EBITDA of £375m, operating profit of £289m (for the financial year 2002), and an estate of over 2,100 pubs, bars and restaurants. At 30 September, M&B had tangible fixed assets with a net book value of approximately £3.5 billion, including £0.7 billion of revaluation.
The listing release highlights the track record of the current M&B management team, which since 1995 has raised managed operating profit from £160 million in 1994 to £289 million in 2002. " M&B has a strong financial track record with post-tax cash return on cash capital employed of over 10 per cent per annum for the last three financial
Years," it says.
The new company is promising shareholders dividend growth through a lower capex requirement, as the conversion of the former Allied Domecq estate comes to an end, overhead cuts, an increase in retail staff productivity, and an increase in individual sites disposals.
Net debt at the end of the financial year 2003, following the separation and proposed return of capital is estimated to be around £1.3bn. This includes the intended 2003 net capital expenditure of around £140m on the M&B estate.
The Britvic soft drinks business will go with the new hotels company.
Potential buyers will be eyeing up both companies. Hugh Osmond's Sun Capital Partners and Cinven are among those said to be interested in the pubs and restaurants business. Some observers believe that, under Six Continents' current chief executive, Tim Clarke, the pubs division may eventually be linked up with to Scottish & Newcastle's pub interests.
The hotels division, which wiil be run by Six Continents' finance director, Richard North, could attract interest from property and financial buyers as well as from hotel competitors.
