John Vincent to inject £2.5m into Leon to save the business

Leon will exit administration having been supported by a £2.5m cash injection from founder and owner John Vincent.

Vincent took back control of the business from Asda last year and set about a restructuring plan that included the closure of 23 sites. He has since said that the group will return to growth post restructure, with plans to expand to 100 sites in four years.

Begbies Traynor and Quantuma Advisory were appointed in December to take the business through a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) and renegotiate with creditors, at which point it was revealed that Leon lost more than £60m in the five years since being taken over by EG Group and integrated into Asda.

The consultants have now published details of the CVA, which will lead to a creditors’ vote on 27 May.

As part of the deal John Vincent will inject a further £2.5m in loans into the business.

Under its restructure, Leon closed 23 owned restaurants. It now has a total of 43 restaurants, 23 of which are franchised.

Vincent said he will embark on a “renaissance of the whole business”, which will include the return of former management team members Chris Burford as chief financial officer, Nick Scovell as operations director, and Chantal Symons and Ben Peverelli in food development.

Leon re-focused its food offer with the relaunch of its fish finger wrap last month, along with its ‘mushroom magic’ and romesco and aïoli grilled chicken boxes.

Vincent said: “I would like to thank everyone inside and outside Leon who has helped over the last few months as we have undergone a painful but necessary restructuring to secure the company’s future.

“We have now reached the point where the company can exit administration and continue its rejuvenation as a smaller but more sustainable company devoted to serving wonderful food to its customers.

There is a lot of affection for Leon, and I am committed to working on behalf of our guests, teams and suppliers to make the company what people want it to be.”

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