Companies: LMR   

Unlike its smaller peers such as Inventive Leisure and Urbium, night club operator Luminar had a disappointing Christmas, as total like-for-like sales for the five weeks to January fell 3.9%. The company's branded estate enjoyed a slight sales hike of 0.2%, but this was from its dancing brands Oceana, Lava Ignite, Liquid and Life, where like-for-like sales rose 11.9%. The entertainment brands Chicago Rock Cafe and Jumpin Jaks declined 4.6%. On the unbranded side, the non-core sites, sales were down 8.9% and the core estate also suffered with a 5.5% drop in sales. As part of its reorganisation, where many of the unbranded sites will either be transferred to the branded division or disposed of, a nonrecurring cost of £1m will be written off. In the year so far to February, 13 units were disposed of for £8.4m. With net debt at the interim stage at £173.3m, Luminar took advantage of the favourable market conditions in the UK corporate debt market by negotiating a new banking facility of £250 million at a lower rate than it was paying previously. Broker KBC Peel Hunt lowered its pre-tax forecast for 2005 in December by 4% to £56m. Do not be surprised if this falls further. If you're already in, reduce further as there are cheaper bargains out there.