Yahoo Finance Gourmet burger chain Byron to unveil last-ditch rescue plan
Gourmet burger bar chain Byron is to reveal last-ditch plans this week which it hopes will save the business.
A company voluntary agreement will involve axing a number of Byron restaurants, the company said, but would allow it to continue operating as a business.
According to sources speaking to Sky News, 15 outlets will close and rents will be cut at approximately 20 others.
If creditors agree to the plan, Byron’s owner – investment firm Hutton Collins – will sell half of its stake to current minority investor Three Hills Capital Partners, allowing new money to be injected into the struggling food group.
But, if landlords reject the plan and demand the same rents, then the rescue measures will collapse – and so could the business.
Putting final touches to the speech #SR2013 pic.twitter.com/jk3FYmqVnm
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) June 25, 2013
Byron – which once (in)famously supplied then chancellor George Osborne with a burger on the evening before a major spending review speech – closed four underperforming eateries last year.
And a few days ago, it also closed its branch in Glasgow, after just 18 months in the city.
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Byron has 70 sites across the UK employing about 1,800 people, having opened its first restaurant in 2007.
Hutton Collins bought the business in 2013 for about £100m and insiders believe this latest rescue deal led by Three Hills could see it valued at as little as £20m.
“Byron’s core restaurant business and brand remain strong, but the market that we operate in has changed profoundly,” said Byron’s chief executive Simon Cope.
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“In order to continue serving our loyal customer base, we need to make some critical and difficult changes to the size and shape of our estate,” he added.
George Osborne was roundly mocked in June 2013 after posting a picture on Twitter eating a burger when it soon emerged it was from Byron – the upper end of the fast-food sector. It also later emerged he had sent Treasury staff out into London to pick it up for him.
