McManus Pub Group, the Northamptonshire-based pub operator, is assessing funding options as it eyes expansion, commercial director Chris Wright has told M&C Report
He said that after the past three or four years of constraints on bank lending, “I think we are now getting to the point where we can look forward and look at building the business”.
“We will look at all the options at the moment: EIS [Enterprise Investment Schemes], BGF [Business Growth Funding], even things like funding cloud.
“We are at a stage where to extend the business we would need to look at external funding coming in, in addition to bank funding.”
Wright said a new vehicle could be created, McManus 2, for expansion. The 19-strong company would look no further north than Northampton, and would probably target “clusters” in the M25 region.
Wright said: “Our expertise is looking more for freehold sites or good leaseholds that have been mismanaged or under-invested that could be converted to sites that trade profitably.”
This week McManus Pub Group reported a 10.3% rise in EBITDA to £1.6m in the year to 28 April. Sales increased 0.5% to £11.2m, driven by a 1.6% rise in food sales. Pre-tax profit increased 36% to £757,000, and operating profit grew by £235,000 to £1.2m.
