14/03/2003
Bank paid its former parent £10.3m for its three restaurants back in November 2000, but it has been almost all downhill from there, culminating in the group being unable to satisfy debt commitments recently. Over the year to October the group made a reduced loss of £2.4m, though £2.6m of its costs were in the form of goodwill amortisation and depreciation of balance sheet assets. So Bank actually made a small profit of £194,000, which is a creditable performance given the dire state of the Central London restaurant market. Bank's three sites are situated at Aldwych and Westminster in London and in Birmingham. They were bought as part of the demerger of ex-chef Tony Allan's BGR into two parts that were both meant to expand rapidly. As it happened, Bank has done well to keep its head above water, while Fish! had to withdraw from Aim after suffering a collapse in sales. Allan has now left Bank 'by mutual consent', with ex-Collins Stewart corporate financier Leigh Collins taking his chairman's spot. Collins admits that 'the directors are acutely aware of the problems associated with the company's relatively small size', adding that a merger or future financing is possible. But with net current liabilities of £3.5m plus bank debt in October, it may be forced to sell sites.
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