Honeycombe seeks stock market listing
01 January 2000 by Linda
Preston-based pub operator Honeycombe Leisure is seeking a stock market listing, with the aim of raising £7.5m for expansion.
A total of £3m will go towards developing 18 new pubs over two-and-a-half years, either through sites sold by breweries, failed independents or successful independents keen to move on. The rest of the capital will repay a brewery loan.
Finance director Michael Norris indicated that expansion would be around the Preston area.
"We've got a market of 21 million people within two hours of Preston," he said.
The group operates 32 pubs, including four Cumbria-based inns with rooms, with a total bedroom stock of 50.
Honeycombe's turnover to the end of April 1997 was £7.74m, with a pre-tax profit of £928,000.
