The Old Monk Company, which owns the Springbok chain of bars, threw its continuing future into doubt with an announcement that it is in discussions with its bank "concerning its financial position".
The company said its directors "are considering the options available at this time," and "a further announcement will be made as soon as practicable."
Old Monk, which was formed in 1995 is headed by Gerry Martin, brother of JD Wetherspoon's boss, Tim Martin. After a time spent opening cask ale-oriented bars, it hit on a successful brand with Springbok sports bars, and announced earlier this year it would be concentrating on the sports bar format and changing the company name to Springbok to reflect this.
It has been selling its lower performing outlets to fund the expansion of its Springbok bars concept, but it has been hit by losses on unbranded pubs and property sales, and an enforced winter closure for its giant Newquay Springbok.
In May it warned that its pre-tax profits before one-off and goodwill charges will be around £1.4m for the year to 28 April, much less than the £2.3m expected by analysts, earned it a panning from the City. They pointed out that gearing was over 100%, which would be uncomfortable, even if profits were about to leap
Last month there were reports that Old Monk was in talks to sell 10 of its London pubs to the Puzzle Pub Company, the London-based pubco headed by Jamie Dutton-Forshaw, a member of the family that own Burtonwood Brewery, for about £3.5m.
The deal comes after the recent sale of seven other pubs and more are expected to follow as the company refocuses on its Springbok bars.
Gerry Martin owns just over half the company's shares, which plunged from 28.5p yesterday to just 14p in early trading this morning. In May they were 77p.
The company said its directors "are considering the options available at this time," and "a further announcement will be made as soon as practicable."
Old Monk, which was formed in 1995 is headed by Gerry Martin, brother of JD Wetherspoon's boss, Tim Martin. After a time spent opening cask ale-oriented bars, it hit on a successful brand with Springbok sports bars, and announced earlier this year it would be concentrating on the sports bar format and changing the company name to Springbok to reflect this.
It has been selling its lower performing outlets to fund the expansion of its Springbok bars concept, but it has been hit by losses on unbranded pubs and property sales, and an enforced winter closure for its giant Newquay Springbok.
In May it warned that its pre-tax profits before one-off and goodwill charges will be around £1.4m for the year to 28 April, much less than the £2.3m expected by analysts, earned it a panning from the City. They pointed out that gearing was over 100%, which would be uncomfortable, even if profits were about to leap
Last month there were reports that Old Monk was in talks to sell 10 of its London pubs to the Puzzle Pub Company, the London-based pubco headed by Jamie Dutton-Forshaw, a member of the family that own Burtonwood Brewery, for about £3.5m.
The deal comes after the recent sale of seven other pubs and more are expected to follow as the company refocuses on its Springbok bars.
Gerry Martin owns just over half the company's shares, which plunged from 28.5p yesterday to just 14p in early trading this morning. In May they were 77p.
