Buckingham disposals raised £30m
THE break-up and disposal of Manchester-based Buckingham Bingo raised around £30m according to the group’s parent company’s latest filed accounts.
Full House Holdings’ figures do not detail the income from the disposal of nine bingo halls and the group’s online business earlier this year, but the directors’ report states that this revenue was sufficient to repay bank borrowings and settle trade debts.
According to the accounts the group owed Barclays £28m and trade creditors a further £1.3m in the year to March 2010.
Hertfordshire-based Club 3000 acquired bingo halls in Middleton, Old Trafford, Walkden, Peterlee, Bradford, Preston and Huyton. Cardiff-based Castle Leisure acquired the clubs in Corby and Bootle.
The accounts show the company made a pre-tax profit of £9.1m in the year to March 2010, compared to a pre-tax loss of £13.7m last time.
This improvement was helped by £8m in VAT refunds and £5m set aside for onerous property leases that was not used. Turnover dipped 7% to £25m.
The group’s auditor KPMG issued a going concern warning in the accounts citing the company’s dependence on VAT refunds to cover a corporation tax liability.
Buckingham has already received £13.6m in refunds but these payments have been challenged by HM Revenue & Customs and the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice. A ruling is expected next summer.
Buckingham Bingo was founded in Preston in 1970 and was latterly in the hands of a specialist London-based restructuring division of Barclays Ventures.
It ran into trouble after a £90m leveraged buyout in 2005 by Alchemy Partners from founder Panico Panayi. Following the deal, trading and profitability slumped as they were hit by the smoking ban and tax changes to gaming machines.
KPMG Corporate finance advised on the disposals.
