Luminar Group faces possible £3m lease reversion hit

Luminar, the late night venue operator, has admitted it could be facing a property-related liability of up to £3m, should a number of leases revert to the group.

In a stock exchange announcement today Luminar said it had been informed that insolvency proceedings had begun regarding Candu Entertainment, which held 35 leasehold sites and which Luminar had disposed of in 2005.

Five of these sites had been sold on to another group, Summit Limited, in 2006, which was now in the hands of liquidators, while 20 were being operated under licence by private equity firm Agilo, which last week merged these sites with a number of Sport Cafe venues.

Some sites were said to be the subject of offers, but there was no certainty these would result in deals.

"Under certain circumstances the leases of the leasehold units held by Candu at the time of its disposal in June 2005 could revert to companies within the Luminar group," it said in the statement.

A spokeswoman for Luminar said anywhere between seven and 35 leasehold sites could revert to the group, depending on whether a number of proposed sales or sub-lettings went through.

"The worst case scenario is the group takes back all 35 sites, or it may only need to take back seven."

Luminar has several options if this happens, the spokeswoman added, including running the venues themselves, sub-letting them, re-branding them or selling them outright.

Analysts suggest the financial hit to Luminar could be anywhere between £1m and £3m - or three to nine per cent of pre-tax profit.