Sports Cafe ends all offer talks despite weak end to 2006

Sports Cafe has ended offer talks with an unnamed suitor and warned the City that sales for 2006 will be below expectations.

The bar chain announced on 8 September that it had received an informal approach from a third party.

But in a statement today, the company said “it had terminated all offer related discussions”.

Sports Cafe said a weak end to 2006 had resulted in like-for-like sales, which strip out new openings, falling 1% compared with 2005. With new openings, such as Bristol, included overall group sales increased 27% year-on-year to £17.9m.

Despite this the company warned its full-year sales revenue would be below current market expectations and said it expected to record an operating loss similar to 2005’s £692,000.

Sports Cafe has already started a cost-cutting programme to streamline the business and has withdrawn from the online gaming market, which it entered in July 2005.

The company is also considering a sale-and-leaseback deal on its Birmingham site to raise cash.

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By Chris Druce

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