Wed, 10 Mar 2021 | ADMINISTRATION
London’s popular Angus Steakhouse chain has appealed to landlords for rent concessions, after COVID-19 pushed the £32 million turnover restaurant to the brink of administration. The steakhouse chain has hired KPMG to negotiate agreements with landlords.
Angus Steakhouse, which is popular among London tourists and West End theatregoers, is owned by the Noble Organisations leisure group.
The chain is asking that landlords for its five locations forego rent payments until trading can resume post-lockdown. Landlords have also been asked to agree to restaurants moving to daily rates of rent payment, rather than quarterly, once they have reopened.
While the majority of landlords are reported to have agreed to the terms, KPMG have stated that there remains “significant uncertainty” over whether they will all agree. In the event that terms are not agreed with all landlords, KPMG says the chain would have insufficient funding and would go into administration. KPMG has given landlords until 5pm today to respond.
Founded in the 1960s, Angus became an iconic London restaurant chain during the 1970s and 80s, with its prominent West End presence making it popular among theatregoers. However, in recent years the chain has struggled due to changing consumer tastes as well as huge competition from the fast casual dining sector.
In its most recent accounts, for the year ending October 31 2018, Angus reported a 10 per cent drop in turnover, from £35.6 million in 2017 to £32 million. On these sales, the company turned a post-tax profit of just £557,000, down from £1.3 million a year earlier.
Due in part to these struggles, the company, which has locations in hotspots such as Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, has come to rely more heavily on its reputation among tourists.
Like many in the restaurant sector, COVID-19 has exacerbated Angus’s pre-existing problems. Cashflow has been heavily impacted by successive lockdowns, while the chain’s reliance on the tourism sector has left it doubly exposed, with international travel dramatically reduced even when restaurants have been able to open.
Read more about COVID-19's impact on the UK restaurant industry.
View the latest distressed UK businesses here.
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