Luminar's annual profits fall by nearly a third

Luminar, the UK's largest nightclub operator, said its profits for the year to February 26, 2009, had fallen by nearly a third to £20.3m, down from £31.5m in the previous year.

The group said this decline was in line with forecasts, however.

Luminar said it had seen revenues for the year to February 26, 2009, slip nearly four per cent as cost conscious consumers spent less on drinks in its venues.

The group, which runs 89 clubs under the brand names Lava & Ignite, Oceana and Liquid, said same outlet sales were down 3.6 per cent over the year, "due to lower market retail prices for alcoholic drinks and lower admissions in early part of the year".

Earnings per share for the year fell from 45.8p to 25.9p, while net borrowings of £141.8m were marginally higher than last year "but well within bank facility agreements of £180m which are agreed until August 2012".

Luminar said current trading "includes an encouraging increase in admissions but overall same outlet sales decline of 3.8 per cent, due primarily to lower drink prices".

Stephen Thomas, the group's chief executive, said: "We have seen a small reduction in admissions across the full year, but more recently an encouraging stabilisation of that trend and a willingness of customers to pay a higher admission price for the competitive value and quality of our facilities.

"Overall sales per head however, whilst showing slight growth in the year, reduced in the second half as we have responded to lower market prices for alcohol," he added.

Thomas said that while Luminar's results for the year were lower than hoped for, the business had performed well in the context of a difficult trading environment.

"The two most significant influences on our profit reduction were the impact of falling retail drinks prices and higher interest costs following an increase in debt caused by last year's shareholder return programme," he added.