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Disco inferno as biggest nightclub operator seeks buyer

 Leeds PRYZM nightclub - OLI SCARFF/AFP
Leeds PRYZM nightclub - OLI SCARFF/AFP

Britain’s largest nightclub operator has put itself up for sale as it battles for survival following seven months of closure.

Deltic Group, which owns 52 nightclubs under the Oceana and Pryzm brands, has begun a sale process while it considers other restructuring options including a company voluntary arrangement.

Peter Marks, chief executive, said that company would run out of cash by December without securing a rescue plan.

“We have to look at every option going and part of that is to see what other capital is out there to get the business through this,” he told the Financial Times.

Nightclubs and licensed adult entertainment venues are the only two industries that have been prevented from reopening since the Government placed the country into lockdown in March.

Deltic has managed to reopen about a tenth of its total floor area operating as bars in recent weeks, but Mr Marks said this was only bringing in some £80,000 a month. The group is burning through £1m every month.

Half the workforce - 1,000 staff - have been made redundant, while further cuts had been avoided courtesy of additional support from the Government's Job Support Scheme.

About 10 parties have expressed an interest in buying Deltic, Mr Marks said - mostly private equity firms along with a small number of trade buyers. Accountancy firm BDO is overseeing the sale process.

A Deltic spokesman said: “The prolonged impact of Covid-19 on the UK’s late-night sector has been well publicised.

“Deltic’s Board has been considering the options available to it and today confirms it has launched an accelerated merger and acquisition process as part of a plan to secure the company’s future.”