Yahoo Finance Sun and snow prove a sour cocktail for Revolution Bars
Revolution Bars has come to rue both good and bad weather as it warned full-year profits would miss expectations.
The company said today that full-year earnings were expected to be flat at £15.1m compared with analyst expectations of £16m.
Shares plunged more than 15pc as markets opened before regaining lost ground. They were around 9pc lower at 142p at 11am.
Revolution said a takeover approach last October had also affected its financial performance, while an extended period without a chief executive had “played its part”.
Executive chairman Keith Edelman said: “I think the weather has got us both ways. When it was cold in March and snow was coming down all consumer businesses got hit pretty badly. For us, very hot weather and particularly hot weather on Saturdays is unhelpful to our business.”
Revolution mainly operates in city centre locations with its outlets tilted towards sales of cocktails and evening drinking. Only a third of Revolution’s sites have outside space.
Mr Edelman said: “When the weather gets too hot, it just detracts people doing late night business. That’s why we just brought our forecasts back a bit.
“If it’s a beautiful day, I’d rather be outside in a beer garden. And if I have done that, I am not going to a night bar afterwards.”
Rob Pitcher is to join Revolution on June 25, allowing Mr Edelman to step back from his day-to-day involvement with the business. The company has been without a chief executive since October when Mark McQuater stepped down in the wake of a failed £102m takeover attempt by pub rival Stonegate.
Stonegate’s approach came as nightclub owner Deltic made its own merger proposal for Revolution, something the company’s board rejected.
Mr Edelman said the takeover battle had unnerved Revolution’s central operations staff.
“I think we need a few new hires in our operational team because we have lost a few people, which happened because of the bid process. People got unsettled, talked to headhunters and then they came back, got jobs and left us,” he said.
