Loungers PLC Covid-19 Update (8992O)
04 Giugno 2020 - 8:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMLGRS
RNS Number : 8992O
Loungers PLC
04 June 2020
4 June 2020
Loungers plc
("Loungers" or "the Company")
Covid-19 Update
Following our update on 22 April announcing the Placing and
additional banking facilities, we would like to update the market
on how we have used the closure period to protect and evolve the
business.
With the Company's financial position secure, our focus has been
as follows:
o Communicating with our team and continuing to engage with our
communities and customers
o Evolving the business for a post Covid-19 trading environment
and beyond
o Preparing for re-opening
Our team are at the heart of everything we do. Alongside
providing reassurance and information we have worked hard to ensure
we have positively enhanced the culture within the business. On a
practical level we have introduced initiatives such as a new app to
allow our teams to communicate together more easily and to ensure
the voice throughout the business is heard. We have also asked our
teams how they feel about returning to work, what measures they
want to see put in place to protect them and we are working on
specific training materials to ensure they are not put at risk in
any way. InYourLoungeFest was our amazing, live-streamed annual
staff party, carried out online in place of our usual company
festival, LoungeFest, where we close the entire business for a day
and party in a field in the Cotswolds.
Our engagement with customers has been based on supporting them
through this difficult time with competitions, acts of kindness in
the community and reminding them about what makes their Lounge or
Cosy Club special. We have also surveyed significant numbers of our
customers in both Lounge and Cosy Club to understand their
attitudes towards visiting our venues when we are allowed to
re-open. Encouragingly, the vast majority of those surveyed are
looking forward to returning (only 2% of customers out of the 6,000
respondents said they would not be comfortable resuming their
normal visits to Lounge and Cosy Club when Government restrictions
are lifted), and their feedback has given us some great insight
into what they will expect to see in place in terms of physical
distancing and hygiene measures. We will continue to survey our
customers in the coming weeks to understand how attitudes are
shifting and to make sure our strategy is on point.
We have opened 17 Lounge sites for takeout and will open a
further 10 sites on the same basis over the next week. Takeout,
'From our Lounge to your Lounge' is a completely new model for us
but our objectives here were to understand if it could provide an
additional revenue stream once re-opened, to help us understand
operating in a physically distanced environment, to get the supply
chain back up and running, to bring team members back from furlough
and working, and most importantly to further energise the culture
of the business and generate some excitement. It has been a big
success, hugely welcomed in the communities where we have opened,
and we don't rule out following up with more sites in the coming
weeks. It won't move the dial financially on a standalone basis but
could potentially provide a further revenue stream when re-opened,
as well as providing a service to anyone who is less comfortable
eating out.
We have chosen not to go down the delivery route, and still
don't think it appropriate for our concepts which have customer and
community engagement at the very heart of them but operating an
order and collect model suits Loungers' personality.
As we prepare to re-open, we are challenging aspects of the
service model in both Lounge and Cosy Club. We are looking to trial
order-at-table technology, for example, and whilst this is
something we have ruled out several times in the past, we would be
keen to try it post lockdown if it makes a minority of our
customers feel more comfortable. Likewise, we are considering menu
size, understanding what efficiencies we might achieve with
slightly smaller menus, a change we will trial whilst operating
physical distancing in our kitchens. We also plan to trial going
cashless when we re-open. Importantly these changes are not just
relevant in the immediate months following re-opening but may well
teach us more about how our brands can evolve in the
longer-term.
We are naturally preparing to re-open, anticipating some - and
potentially the majority - of sites being allowed to open in July,
assuming the hospitality sector gets the go-ahead from the
Government to do so, as anticipated. As a business that is used to
opening a new site every two weeks, this is the kind of logistical
challenge that we relish and perform well at. We are in the process
of planning revised layouts and removing and storing surplus
furniture to allow for the introduction of the physical distancing
rules. Due to the size and layout of the majority of our sites and
the spread of our trade across the day parts, we anticipate being
able to trade profitably with distancing rules in place. There is,
however, a marked difference between 1 metre and 2 metre
distancing, and if 2 metres is implemented, it may not make sense
to open a small number of our more compact sites immediately. We
are also using the closure period to perform regular site visits
and using our in-house build team to carry out both essential and
preventative maintenance work that will help our P&L going
forward by avoiding interruptions to trade. Our approach to
partitioning and physical distancing in the sites has been to
challenge ourselves to find ways to improve the sites from a design
point of view, regardless of Coronavirus. Naturally, it will be
necessary to have PPE and additional hygiene protocol in place for
a period of time but we think the measures we are taking from a
design perspective will feel very complementary to the look and
feel of a Lounge and Cosy Club, whilst providing reassurance to our
customers.
In terms of re-opening, given the suburban and market town
locations of the majority of our sites, alongside the fact that we
are not in central London nor in transport hubs or tourism
locations, means we are optimistic with regards to the future and
expect to benefit from more home-working. The versatility of our
all-day offer, use of multiple day parts and occasions, alongside
our value for money positioning, means we are well placed to resume
trading. Regarding the roll-out of new sites, we are keen to
re-start our new site opening programme as soon as it is sensible
and we expect to be able to secure great property opportunities in
the coming months in a tenant-friendly market.
In summary, we have used this time constructively and
positively. As full re-opening gets closer, and with the valuable
intelligence we have gained from participating in the latter stages
of the lockdown, we believe we are in a strong position and look
forward to the future.
For further information please contact:
Loungers plc Via Instinctif Partners
Nick Collins, Chief Executive Officer
Gregor Grant, Chief Financial Officer
GCA Altium Limited (Financial Adviser and Tel: +44 (0) 20
NOMAD) 7484 4040
Sam Fuller / Katherine Hobbs / Tim Richardson
Liberum Capital Limited (Joint Broker) Tel: +44 (0) 20
Andrew Godber / John Fishley 3100 2000
Peel Hunt LLP (Joint Broker) Tel: +44 (0)20 7418
Dan Webster / George Sellar 8900
Instinctif Partners (Financial Public Relations)
Justine Warren Tel: 020 7457 2010
Matthew Smallwood or
020 7457 2005
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
UPDUPUQCQUPUPGW
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 04, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Grafico Azioni Loungers (LSE:LGRS)
Storico
Da Mar 2024 a Apr 2024
Grafico Azioni Loungers (LSE:LGRS)
Storico
Da Apr 2023 a Apr 2024
