A second pub company that owes money to Regent Inns has fallen into administrative receivership.
Last week, the 18-strong Unchained Growth Pubs (UGP) called in RSM Robson Rhodes because of the decline in the pub sector and its inability to make enough money to cover its costs.
Regent Inns managed the mostly London-based pubs from 1996 to September 2002 and is still owed £1.9m in management fees.
The receivers have sold 16 sites to the Faucet Inn Pub Company, which operates in London and the South-east, but it is still not clear whether Regent will be paid in part or in full.
In a trading statement last week, Regent Inns also revealed that the £4.27m sale of 17 unbranded pubs to Porter Black agreed last October would not go through as the buyer also went into receivership. Although Regent Inns will seek a new buyer, it admits it will not match the original price. However, it anticipates a quick sale of one pub returned by UGP for which it holds the freehold. In total, Regent Inns has sold 39 of 58 unbranded pubs earmarked for disposal for a combined £35m.
Regent chief executive Stephen Haupt revealed that, although the group had boosted year-on-year sales by 33% during the 49 weeks to 14 June, its stance against discounting had contributed to a decline in like-for-like sales in its two key brands.
Like-for-like sales fell by 6.9% at its Walkabout inns (after a strong sporting calendar boosted sales by 10.9% for the same period last year) and by 7.4% at its comedy-themed Bar Risa/Jongleurs branches.
As a result, the company has cut its capital spending for the next year by £5m to £30m. By the year ending 5 July, it will have opened nine Walkabouts, two Bar Risa/Jongleurs and the Stone House bar in Hertford, which will become the prototype for its planned third brand.
In the next financial year, it will open six Walkabouts and one Bar Risa/Jongleurs and convert four existing outlets to the Stone House format.
It describes Stone House as an evolution of its two Pals "boy meets girl", music-themed, female-friendly outlets. Stone House caters for three trading markets - for morning coffee, lunchtime meals and after-work drinks.