Revel results reveal challenging times ahead
The Revel Collective has braced itself for a challenging year.

A combination of low sales, higher costs and a drawn out restructuring plan has set The Revel Collective up for a challenging year.
Over the Christmas period, the pub and bar operator, which trades mainly under the Revolution, Revolución de Cuba and Peach Pubs brands, saw a like-for-like sales increase of just 1.6%.
While some sales records were broken across the group during the festive season, with the Peach Pubs brand performing well, sales in its bar brands were hampered by the uncertainty caused by the delay to the completion of the Revolution Bars Limited Restructuring Plan - the project launched to save the group.
The business says that although there has been some gradual improvement in sales in its Revolution brand, the late night market continues to be challenging, and sales have not yet recovered as quickly as it had anticipated.
Blame the Budget
Several planned initiatives are in place to boost profitable growth in the second half of the group's financial year. However, Revel says the changes announced in the Budget are expected to fully offset these efforts in FY25, estimating that the annual profit impact of the chancellor's announcements on the group is £4m.
"The 2024 festive trading period provided us with a fantastic opportunity to showcase what we do best and it was wonderful to see our guests enjoying the parties we hosted," says Rob Pitcher, CEO of The Revel Collective. "I am particularly pleased with the strong performance in Peach and Founders & Co, which stood out in terms of sales growth.
"However, the younger guests in our bars continue to face challenges with the high cost of living. Additionally, the negative discourse surrounding the Restructuring Plan created uncertainty among our guests and team members. This uncertainty persisted well into FY25, leading to a weaker recovery than we had originally anticipated. We now look forward to a period which will see us implement several new sales initiatives, including launching the new brand proposition for our Revolution brand, just in time for our target guests (18- to 20-year-olds) to receive the 16.3% increase in National Minimum Wage.
"I’d like to thank our teams for all their dedication and hard work in making the Christmas period such a wonderful experience for our guests."