Luminar takes action over leisure division

Nightclub operator Luminar has hived off its leisure division after potential buyers failed to offer enough for the business.

Luminar had been seeking a sale of the division, which includes Chicago Rock Café and Jumpin' Jaks, as it realigns itself as a nightclub business with brands such as Oceana, Liquid and Ignite.

Unimpressed by the value of the bids and conscious of the uncertainty surrounding the long-running process, it has ring-fenced the division and appointed David Crabtree, previously operations director at Yates, as managing director.

The company claimed the new arrangement would allow it to focus on developing its nightclub business, while protecting the value of the leisure division.

As part of its refocusing, Luminar sold 49 non-core nightclubs to a management buy-in team for £27.2m last month.

As a result of tough trading conditions like-for-like sales in the first four months of the year to June were flat. The company said it does not expect the situation to improve dramatically in the near future.

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