Shares in Loungers, a bar and café owner, nudged up to a year-plus high today as the company mapped out expansion plans and secured an extension to a credit line.
The company said this morning that it has extended a revolving facility with two banks and is eying what its chief executive called a “fantastic pipeline” of new sites. The business aims to get its expansion programme back up to opening 25 sites a year.
Its shares edged up by 0.75%, or 2p, to 268p, their highest level since last February.
Loungers is not alone in looking forward to the reopening of sites as lockdown restrictions ease next week. Shaftesbury said today that it will have 3,000 outside seats across its West End estate ready for reopenings on Monday. Its shares fell by 2.3% to 628p.
Frasers Group sounded a more downbeat note in an update on its asset valuations, saying that further restrictions in a third wave of Covid-19 now seem “almost certain” and that it expects to take a fresh £200m hit on its property portfolio. Nonetheless, its shares were up by 1.4% at 504p, their highest level since January 2020.
The day’s biggest real estate gain was posted by Panther Securities, up by almost 10%, and the biggest fall by Inland Homes, down by close to 5%.
The FTSE 100 ended the week at 6,915, down 0.4% over the day. The FTSE 250 finished trading at 22,251, up by just 0.02%.
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