Oakman Inns are delighted to announce significant progress on several fronts, in line with their development and growth strategies outlined last year.
The Audited accounts for year ending April 2016, show significant progress across the group. The key indicators were:
- Group turnover was up by 52.8% at £19.3m
- Like for like sales up 5.7%
- Average sales per core Oakman site continued to exceed £30k NET per week
- Site EBITDA grew by 39.5% to £3.08m
- Group EBITDA more than doubled to £794k
In addition to a pleasing financial performance the group continued to successfully execute its longer-term strategy. The current year trading continues to be strong with Like for Like Sales to the end of Q3 up 4.3%. The group also enjoyed an excellent Christmas with the four-week trading period ending Sunday 1st January 2017 showing:
- Total sales up 30.5%
- Like for Like sales up 6.7%
- Average sales per site over the 15 fully developed Oakman Inns was £182,334
- An average of £45,583 week
The company’s future growth prospects are also looking very positive with a number of acquisitions and development plans now confirmed. Most significant of these is the announcement that on December 30th 2016, Oakman completed the acquisition of The Royal Foresters, a former Beefeater and Premier Inn, in Ascot for £3.6 million. Work will start on the £3.5 million development of a 10,000 sq. ft. Oakman Inn with rooms in the Spring with completion in the Autumn.
The company has also submitted the Planning Application to convert a freehold, former nursing home in Olney to an Oakman Inn and contracts have been exchanged for the freehold of 10 Akeman Street in Tring with the intention of allowing the company to extend their current flagship site.
In financial terms, the company has also agreed terms for a £7million Senior Debt and Growth Capital facility, as well as initiating a private fund-raising of a further £10 million via the Oakman Bond with £5.9 million of the total already raised.
The Board has also been strengthened with the appointment of John Leslie as Non-Executive Director. Well known throughout the hospitality industry, the former Intertain CEO was a Board colleague of Peter Borg-Neal at Allied Domecq in the 1990’s.
Oakman Inns & Restaurants’ CEO, Peter Borg-Neal, said:
“We were very pleased with our performance in 2015/16. The current year is going exceptionally well and we are considerably ahead of our budget for the year. We saw some choppiness with respect to sales at the beginning of Q3 but a stellar performance over Christmas has got us back on target. The acquisition of The Royal Foresters is hugely significant for Oakman Inns. I admired this site when I was at Whitbread and have coveted it ever since. It is a huge investment for us but we are confident that we have the skills to get strong returns from our investment. I am personally delighted that John has joined our Board. He is a long-time friend whose wisdom and strength would be an asset to any Board.”