Sales at Ten Entertainment plummet but leisure business remains resilient
Sales at Ten Entertainment plummeted in 2020, as coronavirus restrictions left the business only able to operate as normal for a fraction of the year.
The leisure company’s total sales for the year ending 27 December 2020 stood at £36.3m, down a considerable 60 per cent from £84.1m in 2019.
The group made a loss of £17.7m in profit after tax, down from a profit of £9m the year before.
Ten Entertainment Group was able to operate under normal trading conditions for just 11 weeks in 2020. It faced 25 weeks of closure due to Covid-19 restrictions and 16 weeks of disrupted trading.
It furloughed 95 per cent of its workforce in order to save cash and preserve jobs. It did not make any centre-based redundancies as a result of the pandemic.
Despite the year’s losses the business looks resilient going forward. It intends to reopen all centres on 17 May, as per the government’s roadmap out of lockdown, and has just £6.7m of 2020 cash deferrals due in 2021, well within its liquidity headroom of more than £18m.
CEO Graham Blackwell said: “2020 has been extremely challenging but we can be proud of the way we have protected the long-term future of the business. We progress towards the reopening of hospitality and leisure with a business that is fit and ready and more digitally driven than ever before.”
In September Ten Entertainment’s chairman Nick Basing will leave the company.
The company said Basing had been “instrumental in the development of Ten Entertainment as one of the leading leisure companies in the UK.”
Basing added: “Although the leisure and hospitality landscape has changed significantly, we know that our customers will more than ever be seeking out our great value experiences to reconnect with friends and family.
“As my fantastic journey with the business draws to a close, and I start a new chapter in my career, I look forward to guiding Ten Entertainment through a successful reopening in May and setting the business back on the path to growth before handing over the reins to my successor.”