First Leisure unveils £25m roll-out plans

First Leisure, the nightclub group, has secured a £25m debt facility to fund accelerated plans over the next three years.

The cash, set aside for growth, is part of a £95m refinancing plan. Chief executive Paul Kinsey said First Leisure planned to open four nightclubs a year but that the money was there just in case.

"This allows us to move quickly," he told thePublican.com. "If any packages that we are interested in become available we now have the cash in place to move forward."

The plans emerged as the 46-strong company unveiled half-year sales up 15 per cent to £50.5m.

New clubs in Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent and Leicester traded well ahead of expectations said chief executive Paul Kinsey. "We enjoyed a record Christmas, with like-for-likes up by 8.2 per cent, and a record Easter, ahead over nine per cent.

"We are delighted with the progress of our new nightclub brand The Works and Creation and have identified over 40 new locations in the UK where we would wish to roll them out over the next three years."

The Works and Creation are both large scale nightclub concepts. The Works has a more industrial feel while Creation is more comfort-led, said Mr Kinsey.

Its debt partner was named as Scotia Capital.

Trading had been boosted recently by a tour of First Leisure venues by Belgian female chart star Ian Van Dahl, to promote her newly released album.

First Leisure, which employs 2,500 people, was formed in January 2000 following a £210m MBO of the nightclub division of the former publicly-quoted First Leisure Corporation.

The MBO was backed by Candover private equity group.