John Leslie, chief executive of Walkabout operator Intertain, has told M&C Report that approval for the company’s restructuring plans paves the way for a period of acquisition and refurbishment over the next 18 months.
As reported by M&C Report earlier today, 97% of the company’s creditors have approved a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), which will see the 32-strong group’s debt burden reduce from £30m to £14m. It will also see new owners Better Capital commit to £6m of new money to fund the company’s capital investment programme.
Leslie said a “small handful” of sites would be disposed of and that some Walkabout sites would be among them.
He said: “They will mainly be ones where the town has become particularly difficult to trade in and we don’t see a viable future there.”
He added: “Once that’s all clear we can continue with our refurbishment which will probably take about 18 months.
“We will look to acquire sites at the same time. Sites of the right specification and location don’t come along necessarily when the time is right so we will do both in tandem.
“We are looking for slightly larger footprint sites in strong locations with daytime footfall as well as a late licence. We are not necessarily competing with restaurants for the space they are looking for because we are going for those larger footprints.”
He said the company was still working on a target town list, which he expected to be finalised by the spring.
