News blog

Clear Leisure

  • BY: Andrew Hore |
  • POSTED: 22/10/2013 |

Italy-based hotels, restaurants and theme parks operator Clear Leisure has suspended the operations of its hotels and travel business just a few days after Luke Johnson stepped down as chairman.

Clear Leisure owns 73.4% of ORH and the terrorist attack in Kenya and other violence in Africa has hit the business. Demand has been weak and selling prices have declined due to the poor Italian economy. There have also been financial irregularities at ORH.

Luke Johnson stepped down as non-executive chairman on 18 October.

The share price has fallen by 44% to 1.63p, which values Clear Leisure at £1.8m. Clear Leisure is trading at a significant discount to the value of its operations. The NAV was €41.1m at the end of June 2013 but it could be much lower at the end of the year.

Clear Leisure was formerly known as Brainspark and chief executive Alfredo Villa has spent the past couple of years trying to clean-up its portfolio. The other main businesses are Italy’s largest waterpark Ondaland, and So Sushi restaurants. Clear Leisure has majority stakes in these businesses. There are still some non-core assets but it may take a long time to realise them. That includes the 69.5% stake in Mediapolis, which owns a 450,000 square metre site near the Milan-Turin-Aosta motorway.

The balance sheet was improved by share placings and a convertible loan note issue. This includes £1m invested by Luke Johnson. However, borrowings have increased over the six months to June 2013. Net debt is €23.5m, although trade creditors have been significantly reduced and the interim cash outflow was relatively modest.

Download the latest AIM Journal from http://www.hubinvest.com/AIMPDFOctober2013_49.pdf

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