BRITAIN’S biggest pub company, Stonegate, has raised fears about its survival as it races to plug its debts.
Stonegate owns 4,432 sites across the UK under the Slug & Lettuce, Be at One, Sports Bar & Grill brands and 350 traditional style pubs under its “Proper Pubs” banner.
The private equity owned company has told investors there is a risk that £2.3billion of debt cannot be refinanced by a deadline next July.
As a result, Stonegate’s company house accounts say there is “material uncertainty that casts doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a “going concern”.
Stonegate posted a doubling in losses to £257million for the year to 24 September, despite record sales of £1.7bn as it hiked the price of drinks and punters flocked back to its pubs.
The company’s accounts say that there is a plan in place for refinancing the debt, but as no money has yet to be raised there is doubt on its ability to “continue as a going concern”.
Stonegate is owned by TDR Capital, which also part owns Asda, and is registered off-shore in the Cayman Islands.
TDR Capital boss Gary Lindsay told MPs in January that he was “confident” Stonegate’s debts could be refinanced this year.
However, debt has become much more expensive due to higher interest rates.
Stonegate is working with advisers at Evercore on its refinancing.
Last year the company refinanced 1,000 of its pubs with debt firm Apollo to inject some fresh cash into the business.
It comes after a shocking poll in February revealed that more than 7,000 pubs are expected to go out of business in the next year.
Four in five have seen their profits nosedive as they have fewer customers, the survey found.
To make matters worse, 97 per cent are getting hit with higher bills.
As a result, 16 per cent of pubs, equivalent to 7,248 out of the 45,300 in the UK, say they are likely to close in the next 12 months.
The Sun also revealed that pubs which are struggling to stay open are also now being hit by huge bills to go green.
