Revolution to pursue ‘cautious recommencement of trading’

Revolution Bars has said it plans to reopen six of its sites on 4 July to initiate its “cautious recommencement of trading.”

The reopened sites will trade in a test-and-learn capacity for a minimum period of two weeks, in order to take lessons from new covid-secure measures and gauge consumer demand, before the business begins reopening further sites.

Following this initial phase, the group has said it plans to reopen up to nine sites per week, with a target of having 62 of its 74 bars reopened by the end of August.

In a return to work survey, 84% of its team members said they are happy to return to work provided the group puts sufficient safety measures in place. Just 0.5% of its staff are shielding.

The update comes after an announcement that the group will be delisting from the main stock market and moving to an AIM on 27 July, at which time it expects its net bank debt to be at £22m.

With £37.5m bank debt facilities now in place (stepping down by £7.5m on 31 March 2021) and £15.0m gross proceeds (£13.8m net of costs) from the successful fundraising to be received on 27 July, the group has said it has a significant amount of cash liquidity and strong balance sheet to see it through the difficult trading conditions in the foreseeable future.

“I am delighted that the Company has received overwhelming support from its shareholders for the proposed Fundraising and move to AIM,” said Rob Pitcher, CEO. “I also enthusiastically welcome the UK Government’s decision to allow bars to reopen from the 4 July 2020.

“Given the all-day nature of our business, we will proceed cautiously, initially reopening only six of our bars to ensure that we can operate safely and viably.

“We hope that the learnings from this first tranche of bar reopenings will enable us to quickly progress the reopening of the remainder of our estate, which we expect to have substantially completed by the end of August.”