Overall ranking: 65

Pubs ranking: 8

Snapshot

Bob Ivell is the executive chairman of Regent Inns, the owner and operator of 72 late-night entertainment-led bars.

The group, which was founded in 1977 and floated in 1993, owns 49 Australian- and sports-themed Walkabout pubs, 14 Jongleurs comedy clubs with associated Bar Risas, three Pal venues and two Stonehouses. 

Career guide

Ivell, who was born in 1952, joined Grand Metropolitan Hotels as a graduate in 1976, where he rose to become food and beverage manager at the London Mayfair by 1978.

He moved to Whitbread in 1978 as regional development and then managing director of Beefeater restaurants, which grew from five to 200 venues. He developed the first Travel Inn budget hotel and helped buy and integrate the Berni Inn chain.

In 1992, Ivell joined Scottish & Newcastle Retail as managing director of restaurants and development, where he acquired 1,600 pubs and restaurants from Grand Metropolitan.

Ivell was promoted to chairman and managing director of S&N Retail in 1999, where he managed a business with 1,410 pubs, restaurants and lodges and annual sales of £1b. After it was sold, he joined Regent Inns in October 2004.

What we think

Ivell’s stint as managing director at S&N Retail won him a Caterer & Hotelkeeper Catey Pub Industry Award in 2002. During this time, he integrated 767 pubs, restaurants and lodges bought from Greenalls into the estate, sold 900 pubs while retaining 85% of profits, and established Premier Lodge hotels and Chef & Brewer pub-restaurants as key players in their markets. He oversaw the £2.51b sale of the division to the Spirit Group in October 2003.

He came to Regent Inns as a troubleshooter to shake-up or find a suitable buyer for the troubled group, a role he regards as the biggest challenge of his career.

Regent’s troubles date back to 1998, when a shock profit warning sent the share price plummeting from 388.5p to 100p and the finance director resigned over problems with like-for-like sales figures. Liquidity concerns forced the suspension of its shares from December 2000 to March 2001 and, in September 2004, its chief executive and finance director resigned over breached banking covenants.

Ivell has strengthened Regent’s management controls, introduced an internal audit, renegotiated the group’s banking facilities and continued to sell off unbranded pubs. The plan is to concentrate on the Jongleurs and Walkabout brands and to boost the latter’s potential for televised soccer and parties.

The signs this February were promising. The share price was heading back towards £1 from a low of 10p and interim results to January 2005 revealed growth in like-for-like sales and a pre-tax profit of £943,000 following the £6.6m loss of the previous year.

Despite its problems, Regent Inns was voted the 10th most respected pub and restaurant company in the peer-reviewed Britain’s Most Admired Companies 2004 rankings.

Ivell has more than a rescue job in mind. “There is an opportunity for consolidation in the pub market. This is not a bad vehicle for that,” he told Chain Leader magazine in April 2005.

Industry speculation suggests Regent may have an acquisition in its sights – or could itself be snapped up, possibly by property entrepreneur Robert Tchenguiz, who holds a 13% stake in the company.

Ivell is also a non-executive director of The Restaurant Group.