Innventure buys M&B freehold

Multiple operator Innventure is set to buy the freehold of one of its Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) franchise sites for £1.39m.

Innventure, run by former M&B executive Chris Gerard, has agreed a deal for the Broadway Hotel in Letchworth, Hertfordshire.

Innventure has operated the Broadway Hotel, a 36 bedroom, 180-cover carvery and large conference facility for the past six years on a franchise lease from M&B — the deal is set to complete on 22 June.

Gerard said that funding costs being at an all time low and the excellent support of the Royal Bank of Scotland would allow further development of the Broadway Hotel and further expansion of the Innventure estate.

He said the price of £1.39m "would strengthen the company's balance sheet as the full value of the Hotel will be, for the first time, shown on the balance sheet".

Innventure currently operates six leased businesses in the south east, including the highly rated D'arry's in Cambridge, and has remained debt and shareholder free since its inception in 2003.

Gerard added that the company had recently been offered £2.5m of investor equity and commensurate bank funding to enable a scale acquisition. He confirmed that the company was in the market for more sites.