Activities

The De Vere Group operates hotels, timeshare lodges and health and fitness clubs in the UK.

It was part of the sprawling Greenalls Group until the start of the current century, when Greenalls sold off its pub, restaurant and drinks distribution businesses to focus on hotels and fitness clubs.

De Vere operates under four key divisions.

• De Vere Hotels is an upmarket, primarily provincial chain of four- and five-star hotels in city, coastal and rural locations. They offer conference, events and leisure facilities, including 13 golf courses. The division also includes De Vere Resort Ownership, which operates five-star timeshare lodges alongside three De Vere hotels.
• Village Hotels & Leisure Clubs is a fast-growing chain of mid-market sites (usually new-builds) within easy reach of major towns and cities. Each Village has a hotel with around 100 bedrooms, a 40,000 sq ft health and leisure club and extensive food and beverage operations, including a Village pub.
• Greens is a chain of standalone health and fitness clubs.
• De Vere also owns spirit manufacturer G&J Greenall.

Timeline

• 1762: The De Vere story starts when Greenalls Brewery is established in St Helens, and relocates to Warrington in Cheshire in 1787. The group ceases brewing in 1991 to concentrate on its diversified interests, which include hotels, pubs, leisure clubs, drinks distribution, and nursing homes (which it offloads in 1996, along with six hotels in the USA).
• 1973: De Vere buys the golf-focused Belfry hotel in Warwickshire.
• 1998: Greenalls acquires Slaley Hall hotel in Hexham from Aston Hotels for £16m.
• Early 1999: As part of its decision to focus on its hotels and health and fitness businesses, Greenalls sells its 1,241-strong tenanted pub estate, Inn Partnership, to Nomura for £370m in January. In March, it announces a joint ventures with St David’s Hotels and Burnden Leisure to expand the De Vere estate with hotels in Chester and Bolton. It buys Dunston Hall hotel in Norfolk for £16m in April.
• December 1999: The group sells Greenall’s Pubs and Restaurants to Scottish & Newcastle for £1.14b. The estate includes 531 managed pubs, 234 pub restaurants and 61 Premier Lodge budget hotels.
• February 2000: The group changes its name from Greenalls Group to De Vere Group. In December, it buys its first London property, the Cavendish hotel, from the Compass Group for £60m.
•  February 2001:  The group sells its Tavern drinks wholesaling business, although it retains white spirit manufacturer G&J Greenall. The disposal leaves the group with De Vere Hotels, Village Hotels & Leisure Clubs and the Greens health and fitness clubs. 
•  November 2002: De Vere forges a sales and marketing alliance with Destination Hotels & Resorts, a privately-owned company in Colorado. Destination operates 27 luxury and upscale hotels and resorts, mostly in the USA, and has run the Cliveden Town House hotel in London since 1998. It is strong in the golf, skiing, conference and spa sectors.
• January 2004: De Vere puts the De Vere Bellhouse near Windsor, the De Vere Dormy in Dorset and two Village hotels in Swindon and Prestwich on the market. The Dormy closes in December due to a lack of suitable offers.
• March 2004: Shareholder GPG Holdings launches a partial offer of £118m to buy 25% of the group’s shares on top of the 10% it already owns. GPG (a subsidiary of investment company Guinness Peat Group) wants the group to sell off the De Vere hotels for £550m, a proposal it first put forward in 2001.
• June 2004: De Vere withdraws its bid for 132 Premier Lodge hotels that have passed to the Spirit Group from S&N as the auction price soars. Meanwhile, GPG’s raised bid of £122m lapses as few shareholders take up the offer.
• December 2004: De Vere arranges a new £200m revolving credit facility
• February 2005: De Vere finalises the sale-and-manageback of the De Vere Belfry to Irish insurance and leisure group Quinn for £186m, a near 50% premium on its book value. It will manage the four-star hotel, famed for hosting the Ryder Cup, under a 25-year contract.
• April 2005: De Vere signs a 20-year management contract with Roda Golf and Beach Resort SL for a 150-bedroom hotel and spa with 18-hole championship golf course that opens in Murcia, Spain, in 2008.
• March 2006: The company sells the De Vere Grand in Jersey for £15.5m to a client Fund of Delancey. The group also reveals that it has received a preliminary approach that may lead to an offer.
• June 2006: Verve Venues owner Alternative Hotel Group (AHG) agrees an 825p takeover offer with the De Vere board that values De Vere at £723.5m. An informal approach from private equity group Permira (owner of the Travelodge budget chain) of 840p per share is rejected by the De Vere board as too conditional. Permira’s offer is followed by a revised bid from AHG of 850p per share that values De Vere at £745.4m.
• July 2006: AHG makes a third offer of 875p per share (valuing De Vere at £767.4m) and Permira withdraws from the battle.
  

Financial snapshot

Full year

Turnover: £312m (2004: £321.8m) 
Pre-tax profit*: £42m (2004: £45.6m)
*before exceptional items

Half year

Turnover: £146.5m (2005: £154.2m)
Pre-tax profit: £13.8m (2005: £76.5m)

Financial year end: 25 September 2005
Half year end: 26 March 2006

Operating data

De Vere Hotels and De Vere Resort Ownership (DVRO)

Number of hotels: 19 (including two managed properties) with 2,939 bedrooms
Number of timeshare lodges: 155

Hotels: The Cavendish (London), De Vere Belfry (North Warwickshire), De Vere Belton Woods (Lincolnshire), De Vere Cameron House (Loch Lomond, Dunbartonshire), De Vere Carden Park (near Chester), De Vere Daresbury Park (Warrington), De Vere Dunston Hall (Norwich), the De Vere Grand, Brighton, De Vere Grand Harbour (Southampton), De Vere Heron’s Reach (Blackpool), De Vere Mottram Hall (Prestbury, Cheshire), De Vere Oulton Hall (Leeds), De Vere Royal Bath, De Vere Slaley Hall (Hexham, Northumberland), De Vere St David’s Park (Ewloe, Flintshire), De Vere Swindon, De Vere University Arms (Cambridge), De Vere Whites (Bolton)
Timeshare units: at Belton Woods, Cameron House (which is to gain an add-on called The Carrick) and Slaley Hall

DVHR operating figures for the half-year to March 2006
Total turnover: £73.5m (2005: £83.6m)
Total operating profit: £9.1m (2005: £14m)
DVRO operating profit: -£0.8m (2005: -£1.1m)

Village Hotels & Leisure Clubs

Number of hotels: 16, with 1,767 bedrooms and 66,464 leisure members
Locations: Bournemouth, Bury, Cardiff, Cheadle, Coventry, Dudley, Hull, Hyde, Leeds, Liverpool, Maidstone, Newcastle, Nottingham, Walsall, Warrington, Wirral

VHLC operating figures for the half-year to March 2006
Turnover:  £44.8m (2005:£40.3m)
Operating profit: £8.3m (2005: £8.1m)

Greens
Number of clubs: 15
Number of members: 69,993

Greens operating figures for the half-year to March 2006
Turnover: £16.3m (2005: £16.2m)
Operating profit: £1.3m (2005: £2m)

G&J Greenall operating figures for the half-year to March 2006
Turnover: £12m (2005: £14.3m)
Operating profit: £829,000.8m (2005: £472,000)

Strategy

“2006 has started satisfactorily, with the business performing ahead of the market despite ongoing external cost pressures. We have made further progress with our four-part strategy, particularly in achieving enhanced sales distribution and cost efficiencies through improved systems, and the continuing rollout of the Village pipeline. The second half performance will be augmented by the new Village openings and bedroom extensions.

In March 2006 the Group confirmed that it had received a preliminary approach, which may or may not lead to an offer for the Company. Discussions continue and a further announcement will be made as and when appropriate."

Source: interim results statement, 17 May 2006

Chief executive

Carl Leaver

Key directors

Non-executive chairman: Lord Daresbury
Group finance director: Matthew Fearn
Non-executive directors: Alan Jackson, David Reid, Steve Morgan
 

Contact

2100 Daresbury Park
Warrington
Cheshire
WA4 4BP

Tel: 01928 712 111
Fax: 01928 756335

E-mail:
Website: http://www.deveregroupplc.co.uk

Commentary

De Vere owns the freeholds or leases on all its properties bar one and  has no intention at present of following the trend to split hotel ownership and management.

The sale-and-manageback deal on the Belfry was a special case arising from the premium rate De Vere could command from its status after hosting the Ryder Cup.

However, management contracts are seen as a route to expand into Europe, as seen by the deal to manage a new hotel that opens in Spain in 2008.

The group intends to open four or five new Villages a year from 2007-2008. New openings in the pipeline include Swansea (spring 2007), South Leeds, Elstree, Farnborough in Surrey, Ashton Moss in Manchester, and Solihull.