The Home Nations failure to qualify for Euro 2008 will not impact sales at Sports Café, the bar chain said yesterday.

This is despite warnings that the UK pub sector will lose out on as much as £100m of extra income next summer.

Sports Café said that despite England and Scotland’s football failures they expected a “modest increase in sales next year on a reduced cost base”.

The sports-led bar chain has worked hard in the past year to reduce its overheads while cutting costs in a bid to become more profitable including disposing of its interests in the online gaming market.

It believed there were early indications of “some success” with profits over the past four months ahead of last years figures while a strong pipeline of Christmas bookings showed evidence of an upturn in performance.

The group added that it now represented a “suitable platform for future expansion”.

Sports Café suffers due to lack of sport >>

Sports Café to boost margins by cutting costs >>

UK pub sector to lose £80m-plus after England fails to qualify for Euro 2008 >>

England’s football failure will boost food venues >>

Sports Café website >>

By Christopher Walton

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