36 2GM Monday June 29 2020 | the times
Business
insolvency process that enables opera-
tors to hand loss-making leasehold
sites back to landlords or reduce rents
— has not been ruled out as a means of
achieving that.
According to a report published to-
day by Colliers International, 30 per
cent of the 217 restaurants that were
handed back to landlords during the ca-Azzurri on menu
as five bidders take
place at the table
The group has about 310 restaurants,
employing more than 6,000 staff. Its
Zizzi brand includes three sites in
Dublin and one in Shanghai while the
group also has three Radio Alice res-
taurants. In June last year it acquired 13
Pod outlets from administration for up
to £1.6 million for conversion to the
Coco di Mama brand.
Although rival casual dining chains
including Chiquito and Carluccio’s
have fallen into administration since
the lockdown, they were already strug-
gling before the crisis under the weight
of rising costs and oversupply, whereas
Azzurri had been trading positively.
In the year to the end of June, it
reported a 7 per cent increase in turn-
over to £299.4 million following ten
new openings and like-for-like sales
growth across all four of its brands.
Underlying earnings increased by 3 per
cent to £38.1 million, while pre-tax
losses, incurred after depreciation and
rolled-up interest on shareholder loan
notes, narrowed to £16 million. It has
about £155 million of debt.
A source close to the process said that
a sale would be judged against other op-
tions. One option under consideration
is said to be a trimming back of its Ask
and Zizzi estates and a company volun-
tary arrangement (CVA) — anDominic Walsh
sual dining crunch of 2017-18 remain
vacant. Of those that have been re-let,
80 per cent have had rents cut by an av-
erage of 20 per cent. Colliers is predict-
ing a further significant cut in average
rental values and an increase in vacan-
cy rates as a result of the pandemic.
None of the parties involved in the
Azzurri process would comment.The energy regulator has unveiled pro-
posals to make suppliers offer more
help to hundreds of thousands of
households that go without gas and
electricity because they cannot top up
their prepayment meters.
All suppliers will have to offer cus-
tomers temporary credit if they are at
risk of running out because they cannot
afford to top up in an emergency or
because they cannot physically get to a
top-up point because shops are closed.
Suppliers will also have to offer addi-
tional credit to vulnerable customers,
such as those who are self-isolating.
Ofgem’s survey last year found that
of four million households with pre-
payment meters, one in seven had “self-
disconnected” within the previous year
because they had run out of credit.
Ofgem said the proposals would ex-
tend temporary measures introduced
to help those in financial distress during
the pandemic into permanent meas-
ures from this winter. It said it would al-
so strengthen protections for custom-
ers with standard credit meters.
The plans come amid concern about
a possible spike in “bad debt” as a result
of the pandemic. Jonathan Brearley,
chief executive of Ofgem, said: “These
permanent protections will reduce the
number of prepayment customers tem-
porarily going without energy because
they cannot afford to top up.”Energy firms
told to help
poor families
Emily GosdenAzzurri, which has a Zizzi at Manchester’s Trafford Centre, cut its losses last yearALAMYThe casual dining chain behind the Ask
Italian and Zizzi chains looks likely to
be sold after attracting bids from five
private equity and investment firms.
The final bidders for Azzurri Group,
created via a £250 million buyout of the
two brands by Bridgepoint in 2015, are
believed to include Towerbrook Capital
Partners and Epiris, a former backer of
Parkdean Resorts and TGI Friday’s.
According to Propel Info, the trade
news journal, Carlyle Group recently
ran its rule over both Azzurri and
Casual Dining Group, the Café Rouge
and Bella Italia brands that are also up
for grabs, but has now stepped back
from both processes.
Azzurri, which also owns the Coco di
Mama chain, is being advised by
KPMG on its options after the Covid-19
lockdown put its future in doubt by
forcing the closure of its entire estate.
£299m
Azzurri’s turnover last year, up 7 per
cent on the year before
Company accounts