Chill Factore catches a cold
THE company which owns the Manchester’s Chill Factore indoor ski slope has said it intends to “increase its appeal to wider markets” and broaden its product mix in order to generate more income so it can pay down its debt pile.
Extreme Cool, which received a £1.2m cash injection from co-owners Pemberstone Group and Bridges Community Ventures in order to shore up its finances in August 2010, said that its aim was to “maintain growth in revenues and cash so as to strengthen the balance sheet and better equip the company for the future”.
Newly-filed accounts for the year to October 31, 2010, reveal that Extreme Cool’s pre-tax losses widened to £4.9m (2009: £1.9m) as sales slipped by 6.5% to £7.1m.
The increased losses meant that the company finished the period with net liabilities of £18.9m – up from £14.5m at the end of the previous year.
The Chill Factore resort, next to the Trafford Centre, opened its doors in November 2007 after Extreme Cool raised around £31m from investors including not-for-profit private equity firm Bridges Community Ventures, Worcester-based property developer Pemberstone and bankers RBS and Allied Irish.
The refinancing which took place last August also saw the company restructuring its loans with the two principal bankers until 2013.
Following the deal, an overhaul of its management took place with former Alton Towers sales and marketing director Morweena Angove brought in as the company’s new chief executive in December last year.
A report prepared by directors said the firm struggled during 2010 as a result of the ongoing recession and the bad weather early in the year when the resort is at its busiest as skiers prepare for winter holidays.
“Heavy snow falls in the North West severely disrupted transport access in the site, whilst the availability of free snow activities in public areas temporarily reduced the attractiveness of several product lines.”
Chill Factore has recently appointed agents Colliers to look at its current retail mix, while building consultancy Powell Williams have been taken on to investigate potential uses for the large void space under the existing slope.
