Since the demerger from Chorion the shares have not done well ..... despite a clutch of director buys last June the price has halved .... mostly on market worries and the idea that peeps wil stay away from the City centres as talk of a war and possible terrorist action grows ..... not so IMHO - my children are still out clubbing and soon forget about talk of war - after the first drink or so.

The format is for the 20/40 age group who like to spend and have a good time but the main bars and restaurants are open most of the day to catch lunch time trade etc.

last broker comment - about 5 weeks ago - Numis Securities sees no reason why Urbium should not trade at a similar multiple to rival Inventive Leisure. Accordingly it has set a 15p target price.


Trading

after an encouraging statement on Christmas and New Year trading. The group, which owns the 'Tiger Tiger' bars and the 'Sugar Reef' and 'Zoo' outlets in London's West End, said like-for-like sales over the four week period to Dec 31 rose by 3.4%. Total sales for the period were up by 37% to 9.8m. Within these figures, the flagship 'Tiger Tiger' brand increased its like-for-like sales by 11.7 pct, with the West End outlet recording a 7% increase on the same period last year.

"In 'Tiger Tiger' we've got a different product from the rest of the high street operators," group managing director Robert Cohen told AFX News. "We've never seen London and the West End as a weakness and 'Tiger Tiger' is a well-known brand that punches well above its weight," he added. Based on today's trading update, Cohen said the group had reversed a first half 1.1% decline in like-for-like sales with the second six months producing a gain of 1.0%.

Total bar nightclub sales were up by 32% to 34.8m in the second half of 2002. "There was a much stronger performance in the second half and this leaves the group well placed to meet current market forecasts for the year to Dec 2002," Cohen added. Analysts presently anticipate pretax profits of between 8.8m and 9.2m for 2002.

House broker Old Mutual Securities this morning reiterated its 'strong buy' for the shares. It reckons full year sales will be around 60m with profits of 9.15m. "This is a very commendable performance given the downgrades which have recently been required for other leading operators in the sector," the house said in an investment note this morning. Based on forecast earnings per share of 1.54 pence for the current year to Dec 2003, the stock currently trades on a "ridiculously low" multiple of 3.6 times, OMS says. "Based on this reassuring update, there must surely be some re-rating of the shares," it added.


ains


shares on 20/02 mid 5.12p - currently 6.25p mid 24/02

RNS Number:0399I
Urbium PLC
27 February 2003


Embargoed until 0700 27 February 2003

Urbium PLC
("Urbium" or the "Group")

Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2002

Highlights

Continuing businesses before exceptional costs and amortisation of
intangible assets

- Turnover up 38% to #59.9 million (2001: #43.4 million)

- Operating profit up 32% to #10.3 million (2001: #7.8 million)

- Adjusted earnings per share on continuing businesses up 21%
to 1.21 pence



> Profit before tax up by 139% to #4.3 million (2001: #1.8 million)

> Basic earnings per share 0.23 pence (2001: Loss per share 0.56
pence)

> Strong December and second half performance helped deliver Group
result for the year in line with expectations in substantially more
difficult trading environment

> Three new large format Tiger Tigers opened in Croydon, Glasgow and
Newcastle and trading is ahead of expectations

> Successful implementation of new management initiatives to combat
trading environment increased sales and improved cost efficiencies

> Strong performance from core estate in London's West End despite
slowdown in market. Total late night licensed market share for
Urbium's sixteen West End Bar Nightclubs now estimated at 15%

> Group's financial position remains robust and Urbium continues to
trade well within its banking covenants

> Clear strategy for growth

- Further large capacity Tiger Tigers in UK major population
centres together with smaller Tiger Tiger formats in
secondary markets
- Further expansion of the London estate in West End, the City
and key London suburban markets

John Conlan, Chairman said: "Our relatively strong performance
last year against challenging conditions is mainly due to the
strategic positioning of the businesses which has secured a
competitive edge through a well differentiated operating format.
We focus mainly on an older, more affluent and less crowded market
where we can generally compete on service and quality rather than
on price discounting. Our unique combination of bar, restaurant
and nightclub, usually trading all day and late night, is ideally
suited for this more discerning market.

"Our banking facilities consist of a #50 million medium term
facility and a #5 million overdraft facility. At the end of 2002,
#23 million of these facilities were undrawn and uncommitted. The
Group has traded and continues to trade comfortably within all its
banking covenants. This combined with the strong and growing cash
flow from existing businesses puts Urbium in a secure financial
position. Additionally over the past six months we have been
deliberately conserving our resources and maintaining maximum
flexibility in our future development commitments until we
consider that property and business values fully reflect the
degree of downturn in the sector and until the current general
uncertainty in the economy has eased. This revised strategy will
result in a significant reduction in debt in 2003 and put Urbium
in a strong financial position to take advantage of the many
development and acquisition opportunities which we are confident
will be available in the future.

"We expected that market conditions for 2003 would continue to be
difficult and trading during January and February, the lowest
trading period for the year, has confirmed our caution. We have
taken advantage of this traditionally quieter period to carry out
a number of reinvestment projects, such as the refurbishment of
Tiger Tiger London, which inevitably results in some business
disruption.

"The leisure retail market generally appears to have been slower
to recover from the traditional New Year lows than in previous
years but given the low levels of activity during this period, it
is too early yet to gauge trends for the year as a whole. The
Board continues to be confident about the long term prospects for
Urbium."

An analyst meeting will be held at 0930 today at the offices of
Weber Shandwick Square Mile, Fox Court, 14 Gray's Inn Road,
London, WC1X 8WS.


Enquiries:

URBIUM PLC
John Conlan, Chairman (27 February) 020 7067 0700
Robert Cohen, Managing Director (Thereafter) 020 7434 0030
Steven Palmer, Finance Director

WEBER SHANDWICK SQUARE MILE 020 7067 0732
Becky Haywood


27 February 2003

Urbium PLC
("Urbium" or the "Group")

Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2002

Chairman's Statement

Introduction
I am pleased to announce Urbium's first full year results as an
independently quoted Company. Urbium, the former bar nightclub
business of Chorion PLC, was formed following the demerger of the
Intellectual Property business and was admitted to AIM on 17 May
2002.

We are required to report Urbium's results for the full year to 31
December 2002, together with the 20 week results to 17 May 2002 of
the Chorion businesses which were demerged. The demerged
activities are reported under discontinued operations.

This commentary on the year's results focuses only on Urbium's
continuing operations, the bar nightclub businesses. I am
delighted to report that this business has enjoyed another
successful year and that the strong rate of growth achieved since
the business was established five years ago has continued.

Turnover for the period increased by 38% to #59.9 million (2001:
#43.4 million) with operating profit from continuing operations,
before amortisation of intangible assets and exceptional costs,
increasing by 32% to #10.3 million (2001:#7.8 million).

The reported results for the year include a #3.9 million
exceptional cost relating to the total cost of effecting the
demerger. The net interest charge for the period of #1.2 million
relates to the borrowing costs on the total debt used to establish
both the bar nightclub business and the demerged intellectual
property business, except for #5 million repaid to Urbium on
demerger. Profit before tax increased to #4.3 million, an
increase of 139%. Adjusted earnings per share from the continuing
operations, before exceptional costs and amortisation of
intangible assets, increased by 21% to 1.21 pence whilst the basic
earnings per share of 0.23 pence per share compares favourably to
a loss of 0.56 pence in 2001.

As signalled in the demerger documentation, no dividend is being
proposed for 2002. In view of the Group's robust trading
performance and strong cash flow the Directors will consider
declaring a maiden dividend with the preliminary results for 2003.

For Urbium 2002 has been a busy and rewarding year in which a
number of important corporate strategic landmarks were reached.
Chief among these were the complex demerger of the Intellectual
Property business and the final elimination of the remaining and
onerous Trocadero liabilities. These complex and lengthy
transactions have finally delivered an unencumbered, vibrant and
well managed bar nightclub business that has traded well in 2002
and which, I believe, has significant future potential and value.

Business Review
That potential is clearly demonstrated in the fine performance for
2002. Our businesses and markets are not immune to the well
documented downturn in general leisure retail spending over the
past year or so. Our relatively strong performance last year in
those challenging conditions is mainly due to the strategic
positioning of the businesses which has secured a competitive edge
through a well differentiated operating format. We focus mainly
on an older, more affluent and less crowded market where we can
generally compete on service and quality rather than on price
discounting. Our unique combination of bar, restaurant and
nightclub, usually trading all day and late night, is ideally
suited for this more discerning market.

A significant factor contributing to the relatively strong 2002
performance was management's recognition early in the year of a
further tightening in leisure consumer spending and the
implementation of specific initiatives to improve profits in the
seasonally much more important second half of the year. These
initiatives were mainly directed towards competing aggressively
for additional sales during our peak demand periods, especially in
December, and to driving cost efficiencies throughout the business
without compromising service standards.

The success of these initiatives led to a very satisfactory second
half performance with total sales up by 33% on the previous year
and like for like sales in comparable businesses up by 1%. This
result was a significant improvement on first half trading
patterns with both London and the provinces performing more
strongly. The December trading period was a particular success.
Total net sales for the four weeks ending 31 December increased by
37% to #9.8 million, with like for like sales for comparable
December trading businesses up by 3.4% on the previous year's
record result.

This robust performance in a tougher market was achieved mainly
through one of the business's key strengths - its ability to
provide restaurant and party catering services to a high standard
and in volume during periods of peak demand. This strong December
result was delivered despite indifferent trading in London on the
traditionally strong New Year's Eve. We, together with other
London operators, were disappointed with the lack of any
substantial organised New Year's Eve celebrations in Central
London and the active encouragement by various authorities to stay
out of the West End on that night. Overall a rather poor
reflection on the capital city.

The Board's strategic plan for growth has been tightly focused on
developing our two prime assets, the Tiger Tiger brand and our
unique position in London's West End. In 2002 significant value
has been added to both of these assets.

Tiger Tiger
Tiger Tiger is our own creation and lead development brand. This
highly individual fusion of bar, restaurant and nightclub is now
firmly established as a highly regarded and recognised national
brand. It achieves trade and consumer recognition well beyond
what would normally be afforded to a business that still trades
from just eight locations in the UK.

Three Tiger Tigers opened to significant success in 2002 and after
absorbing the substantial pre-opening and launch costs of these
large businesses, they made a good initial part year contribution
to profits. All three are expected to make a significant
contribution in 2003. Croydon opened in March 2002 and made a
major contribution to profits in the second half. Glasgow opened
in August 2002 and by the year end was firmly established.
Newcastle, which opened in mid November, has since traded ahead of
our expectations and is showing all the hallmarks of developing
into another large and successful business.

It is not unusual for large, well invested new developments in our
sector to perform strongly in their first year following opening
but it has often proved to be more challenging to maintain or grow
profits thereafter. With the exception of Birmingham, which was
our first regional Tiger Tiger, we have been able to maintain
growth in subsequent years. As the businesses mature and become
more established in their individual locations, management have
been able to grow the business, particularly corporate, restaurant
and function bookings, in their second and subsequent years
following opening. Portsmouth and Leeds, which opened in 2001,
recorded solid growth in the second half of 2002 and Manchester,
which opened in 2000, achieved its best profit to date in 2002.
In 2002, in its fourth full year of trading, the original Tiger
Tiger in London's Haymarket recorded profits ahead of 2001.

With each new opening we continue to develop the brand and range
of facilities. We have recently taken the opportunity to retro-
fit part of the Birmingham Tiger Tiger using some of the design
and layout modifications used in recent successful openings.
These modifications are designed to improve Birmingham's profit
contribution in 2003. Similarly, at Tiger Tiger Haymarket, now in
its fifth trading year, in February 2003 we completed, at a modest
cost compared to the original investment, a design refit of a
substantial part of the unit in order to help maintain the
unprecedented profit contribution from this remarkable business.
These smaller additional investments are being made in order to
maintain, and enhance where possible, the brand values, quality
and performance of the Tiger Tiger business, which is one of
Urbium's principal assets.

London
London is by far the largest leisure and hospitality market in the
UK and has characteristics which are particularly attractive to
us. Our customer base is predominantly drawn from those who work
and live in and around London and our dependence on the less
reliable tourist market is minimal. Compared to elsewhere, a
significant level of business is available all day and all week.
Also, in this affluent market price discounting is quite limited
and higher gross margins can be achieved. Our significant
presence in London's West End is very valuable and, with current
licensing restrictions, would be a difficult asset to replicate.
Urbium now trades from 16 individual venues with capacities
ranging from 200 in some smaller bar concepts to 1,770 at Tiger
Tiger. It is estimated that we now control approximately 15% of
the late night licensed capacity in our area of trade in the West
End.

Set against the background of the well publicised downturn in
leisure and hospitality demand in London, we are very pleased with
the strong performance of Urbium's businesses in the capital in
2002. As early as February 2001, we noted a discernable
downturn in demand in our City related corporate and party
business. That trend has continued in 2002. However, in the
second half of the year in particular, revenue levels stabilised
as we have been able to increase our market share partly through
various web based marketing initiatives with our
latenightlondon.co.uk website and its dedicated sales team.

Late Night London's dedicated database of over 100,000 registered
users in the much coveted demographic of 22-30 year old affluent
professionals living and working in and around London has proved
to be a powerful tool for sustaining and building customer traffic
through our wide choice of venues and facilities.

During the second half of 2002 two further units were added to the
West End portfolio. A small capacity unit in Greek Street, was
acquired, closed, redeveloped and now trades as The Soho. The 680
capacity former Rock venue on the Embankment was acquired and
relaunched as Motion. Together these new venues are expected to
make a useful contribution to profits in 2003.

During the second half Red Cube, the restaurant led bar acquired
in June 2001, was successfully repositioned at low cost as a more
conventional Urbium bar nightclub. The other restaurant led bar,
the high profile Sugar Reef unit also acquired in June 2001, made
a very useful contribution to profits particularly in the second
half. However, this business has yet to achieve our expected
return on investment as its performance has been curtailed due to
the downturn in restaurant demand from corporate and City clients.
We are evaluating a range of operating modifications to improve
future performance similar to those successfully implemented at
Red Cube.

Elsewhere in the West End, many of our established businesses such
as The Loop, The Langley, Oxygen, On Anon, Digress, Sway and
Babble traded strongly reporting profits ahead of the previous
year.

With the interim results in September we announced our first
business in the City of London, the 750 capacity Digress that
opened at the CityPoint development in Ropemaker Street in late
November. Although trading only during normal licensing hours to
11pm and mainly Monday to Friday, we were very pleased with the
high level of sales achieved during the five weeks to the end of
2002 and since. The unit's performance to date suggests that our
contemporary and stylish brand offering is being well received by
the City market. We believe that considerable further growth
potential exists in this large market. The current well
publicised downturn in the City provides us with a window of
opportunity to secure other suitable properties at rental levels
appropriate for our business and in which we can achieve our
target return rates in the short term and significant out-
performance when City confidence is again restored.

Overall in London Urbium has enjoyed a robust performance in 2002.
In our experience London is the most resilient market in a period
of extended consumer downturn and the most lucrative when demand
is strong. It's a market in which Urbium's management has
particular experience and operational knowledge. By continuing to
develop a strong presence in this unique market, the Directors are
confident that a very valuable asset for shareholders has already
been created.

Future Growth Strategy
Urbium will continue to build on its core strengths and prime
assets with a strategy focused on three key objectives.

Firstly, we will continue to develop our successful lead brand,
the large capacity Tiger Tigers, in primary population centres in
the UK where there is still considerable potential for development
over the next three years. For the foreseeable future our only
Tiger Tiger development outside of the UK will be restricted to
the very attractive Dublin market. We expect to open in Dublin in
early 2004.

Secondly, as referred to in the last Interim Statement, we also
plan to launch a smaller capacity adaptation of the Tiger Tiger
format which will still retain the unique mix of bar, restaurant
and nightclub which is the hallmark of the brand. This will
provide us with a major opportunity to exploit the brand in a wide
range of smaller UK markets.

Finally, although the national roll out of the Tiger Tiger brand
is rapidly reducing our historic reliance on London, we will
continue to expand our presence, both in our West End heartland
and beyond. We will build on our West End strength, mainly
through acquisition, as and when suitable opportunities at the
right price are identified. Additionally, building on our
successful experience at Croydon in South London, we plan to
establish our contemporary operating formats in affluent London
suburbs and in major markets around the M25. Also, as discussed
above, will seek to secure a greater share of the attractive City
of London market.

Our banking facilities consist of a #50 million medium term
facility and a #5 million overdraft facility. At the end of 2002,
#23 million of these facilities were undrawn and uncommitted. The
Group has traded and continues to trade comfortably within all its
banking covenants. This combined with the strong and growing cash
flow from existing businesses puts Urbium in a secure financial
position. Additionally over the past six months we have been
deliberately conserving our resources and maintaining maximum
flexibility in our future development commitments until we
consider that property and business values fully reflect the
degree of downturn in the sector and until the current general
uncertainty in the economy has eased. This revised strategy will
result in a significant reduction in debt in 2003 and put Urbium
in a strong financial position to take advantage of the many
development and acquisition opportunities which we are confident
will be available in the future.

People
Shareholders I know will join me in expressing our thanks and
congratulations to my fellow executive Directors, Robert Cohen and
Steven Palmer, together with the management team and staff who
have worked so hard to deliver such a good 2002 result in
challenging market conditions. These people are our best assets
and I can assure shareholders that they are fully focused and
determined to deliver outperformance in 2003.

Outlook
As in the past, a significant element of Urbium's annual growth
stems from the full year benefit of developments carried out in
the previous year. Eight new businesses were added in 2002
including three large capacity Tiger Tigers. A substantial full
year growth benefit is expected from these in 2003.

We expected that market conditions for 2003 would continue to be
difficult and trading during January and February, the lowest
trading period for the year, has confirmed our caution. We have
taken advantage of this traditionally quieter period to carry out
a number of reinvestment projects, such as the refurbishment of
Tiger Tiger London, which inevitably results in some business
disruption.

The leisure retail market generally appears to have been slower to
recover from the traditional New Year lows than in previous years
but given the low levels of activity during this period, it is too
early yet to gauge trends for the year as a whole. The Board
continues to be confident about the long term prospects for
Urbium.

John Conlan
CHAIRMAN 26 February
2003




CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
for the year ended 31 December 2002

Restated
Year to Year to
31 December 31 December
2002 2001
Notes #'000 #'000
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Turnover 2
Continuing operations:
Ongoing 57,919 43,383
Acquisitions 2,006 -
_______________________________________________________________________________________
59,925 43,383
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Discontinued operations 2,818 10,167
_______________________________________________________________________________________
62,743 53,550
Cost of sales (12,461) (8,920)
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Gross profit 50,282 44,630

Net operating expenses (44,782) (43,042)

Operating profit
Continuing operations:
Ongoing before amortisation 10,239 7,819
Acquisitions before amortisation 63 -
Amortisation of intangibles (1,157) (853)
Exceptional demerger costs 3 (3,869) -
_______________________________________________________________________________________
5,276 6,966
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Discontinued operations:
Discontinued before amortisation 477 5,220
Amortisation of intangibles (253) (443)
Exceptional costs 3 - (10,155)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
224 (5,378)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Group operating profit 5,500 1,588
Interest payable (1,274) (285)
Interest receivable and similar
income 32 472
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Profit on ordinary activities
before taxation 4,258 1,775
Tax on profit on ordinary
activities 4 (2,979) (3,926)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Profit/(loss) on ordinary
activities after taxation 1,279 (2,151)
Equity minority interests (105) (757)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Profit/(loss) for the financial
year 1,174 (2,908)
Ordinary dividend 5 - (1,811)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Retained profit/(loss) for the
financial year 1,174 (4,719)
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Earnings/(losses) per share 6
Basic 0.23p (0.56p)
Diluted 0.22p (0.56p)
Adjusted 1.25p 1.65p
Adjusted continuing operations 1.21p 1.00p





CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
at 31 December 2002


Restated
2002 2001
#'000 #'000
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Fixed assets
Intangible fixed assets 17,608 46,290
Tangible fixed assets 46,177 35,956
Film and TV investments - 14,984
_______________________________________________________________________________________
63,785 97,230
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Current assets
Stocks 1,403 849
Debtors due within one year 4,422 12,741
Debtors due after more than one year 1,184 2,525
Cash at bank and in hand 2,450 2,267
_______________________________________________________________________________________
9,459 18,382
Creditors: amounts falling due (12,248) (25,686)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
within one year
Net current liabilities (2,789) (7,304)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Total assets less current 60,996 89,926
liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due after more
than one year (32,000) (15,646)
Provisions for liabilities and charges (3,611) (1,395)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Net assets 25,385 72,885
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Capital and reserves
Called up share capital 5,175 5,173
Share premium - 30,038
Merger reserve

Sorry about the length of that lot..couldnt find the link on MAM?
Still makes dam good reading for a change :0)
Tris

Absolutely right Tris .... looks good for the future

ains




02/27 07:08
Urbium Returns to Profit in 2002 After New Bars Boost Sales
By Laura Humble


London, Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Urbium Plc, the owner of bar- nightclubs such as Tiger Tiger, posted a full-year profit last year compared with a loss in the previous 12 months after it added more outlets.

Net income was 1.17 million pounds ($1.86 million), or 0.22 pence a share, compared with a loss of 2.91 million pounds, or 0.56p, in 2001. Revenue rose 38 percent to 59.9 million pounds, the company said in a Regulatory News Service statement.

Unlike rivals Regent Inns Plc and Luminar Plc, which have struggled to compete for drinkers, Urbium has benefited as its combination of drinking, dining and dancing bars attracts more customers. The company opened eight new outlets last year.

``We focus mainly on an older, more affluent and less crowded market where we can generally compete on service and quality rather than on price discounting,'' said Chairman John Conlan in the statement.

Urbium shares were unchanged yesterday. They have climbed 26 percent since the beginning of the year.

Urbium FY profits soar 139 pct; market remains challenging



LONDON (AFX) - Urbium PLC, the former bar nightclub business of Chorion PLC, reported a 139 pct jump in pretax profits for 2002, in line with expectations, after a strong December and second-half performance.

The trading environment became substantially more difficult last year and remains challenging, the AIM-listed bar and nightclub group said.

"January and February are the lowest trading periods in our year and 2003 has been no exception. We expected that market conditions for 2003 would continue to be difficult and trading during January and February, the lowest trading period for the year, has confirmed our caution," it said.

Sales grew 38 pct to 59.9 mln stg and operating profit rose 32 pct to 10.3 mln stg.

Adjusted EPS on continuing businesses was up 21 pct to 1.21 pence.

No dividend was proposed but the company said it will consider a maiden dividend with the 2003 results.

Urbium said it continues to trade well within its banking covenants.

Chairman John Conlan said Urbium's banking facilities consist of a 50 mln stg medium-term facility and a 5 mln stg overdraft facility. At the end of 2002, 23 mln stg of these facilities were undrawn and uncommitted.

He said Urbium in a strong financial position to take advantage of the many development and acquisition opportunities which are expected to be available in the future.

He said the leisure retail market generally appears to have been slower to recover from the traditional New Year lows than in previous years but said it is too early yet to gauge trends for the year as a whole.

"The board continues to be confident about the long term prospects for Urbium," said Conlan.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

Good results. a good share to trade time after time for clever teddy bear.

happy teddy

Urbium bright despite dark times
Jim Armitage, Evening Standard 27 February 2003

ARS group Urbium today reported a sharp jump in profits in its first set of results since being spun out of the Chorion group.






Despite what Urbium admitted were tough times for the London bar scene, pre-tax profits jumped in the year to 31 December to 4.2m against 1.8m a year earlier on sales of 59.9m against 43.4m last time.



The owner of Tiger Tiger and football stars' haunt Sugar Reef said trading had continued to be difficult during January and February, as the market generally failed to bounce back from the traditionally slow New Year. Like-forlike sales remained ahead of last year, but only just. Urbium won fans in the City after Christmas when it reported December like-for-like sales were 3.4% ahead of the year before.


A host of High Street rivals have reported dismal trading figures and profit warnings, citing cut-throat competition and a fall in the number of suburban barflies staying in town to do their drinking. But Urbium has won supporters for its strategy of focusing on the older, more affluent London market and its refusal to enter the price war currently being waged between the likes of JD Wetherspoon and Yates's.


Chairman John Conlan said the group still had 23m of its debt facility to spare and was ready to splash out on properties expected to be put on the market by his troubled peers.


'There is already a lot of stuff on the marketplace,' he said. 'More will come along soon at a better price and we're well placed for them.'



2003 Associated Newspapers Ltd.

up over 4% in a dull flattish market with a million and a half traded in just over an hour


ains


LONDON (AFX) - Urbium PLC, the former bar nightclub business of Chorion PLC, reported a 139 pct jump in pretax profits for 2002, in line with expectations, after a strong December and second-half performance.

The trading environment became substantially more difficult last year and remains challenging, the AIM-listed bar and nightclub group said.

"January and February are the lowest trading periods in our year and 2003 has been no exception. We expected that market conditions for 2003 would continue to be difficult and trading during January and February, the lowest trading period for the year, has confirmed our caution," it said.

Sales grew 38 pct to 59.9 mln stg and operating profit rose 32 pct to 10.3 mln stg.

Adjusted EPS on continuing businesses was up 21 pct to 1.21 pence.

No dividend was proposed but the company said it will consider a maiden dividend with the 2003 results.

Urbium said it continues to trade well within its banking covenants.

Chairman John Conlan said Urbium's banking facilities consist of a 50 mln stg medium-term facility and a 5 mln stg overdraft facility. At the end of 2002, 23 mln stg of these facilities were undrawn and uncommitted.

He said Urbium is in a strong financial position to take advantage of the many development and acquisition opportunities which are expected to be available in the future.

He said the leisure retail market generally appears to have been slower to recover from the traditional New Year lows than in previous years but said it is too early yet to gauge trends for the year as a whole.

"The board continues to be confident about the long term prospects for Urbium," said Conlan.

The board's strategic plan for growth has been tightly focused on developing its two prime assets, the Tiger Tiger brand and its unique position in London's West End. In 2002 significant value has been added to both of these assets.

At Tiger Tiger a good initial part year contribution was made to profits in the year under review. Conlan said Croydon, Glasgow and Newcastle are expected to make a significant contribution in 2003. Newcastle opened in mid November and has since traded ahead of expectations and is showing all the hallmarks of developing into another large and successful business.

Conlan said London is by far the largest leisure and hospitality market in the UK and has characteristics which are particularly attractive to Urbium.Urbium now trades from 16 individual venues with capacities ranging from 200 in some smaller bar concepts to 1,770 at Tiger Tiger. "It is estimated that we now control approximately 15 pct of the late night licensed capacity in our area of trade in the West End."

During the second half of the year under review Red Cube, the restaurant led bar acquired in June 2001, was successfully repositioned at low cost as a more conventional Urbium bar nightclub. The other restaurant led bar, the Sugar Reef unit also acquired in June 2001, made a very useful contribution to profits particularly in the second half.

However, the group said this business has yet to achieve the board's expected return on investment as its performance has been curtailed due to the downturn in restaurant demand from corporate and City clients. "We are evaluating a range of operating modifications to improve future performance similar to those successfully implemented at Red Cube."

The group also said it is pleased with the high level of sales achieved at the 750 capacity Digress that opened at the CityPoint development in Ropemaker Street in late November, up to the end of 2002 and since. "We believe that considerable further growth potential exists in this large market."

The board said the current well publicised downturn in the City provides Urbium with a window of opportunity to secure other suitable properties at rental levels appropriate for the business and in which it can achieve its target return rates in the short term and significant out-performance when City confidence is again restored.

Urbium said it will continue to build on its core strengths and prime assets with a strategy focused on three key objectives. Firstly, it will continue to develop its lead brand, the large capacity Tiger Tigers, in primary population centres in the UK where there is still considerable potential for development over the next three years.

For the foreseeable future the only Tiger Tiger development outside of the UK will be restricted to the Dublin market, Conlan said. "We expect to open in Dublin in early 2004."

Secondly, the group also plans to launch a smaller capacity adaptation of the Tiger Tiger format which will still retain the mix of bar, restaurant and nightclub which is the hallmark of the brand.

Finally, although the national roll out of the Tiger Tiger brand is rapidly reducing the group's historic reliance on London, the board said it will continue to expand its presence, both in the West End heartland and beyond.

"We will build on our West End strength, mainly through acquisition, as and when suitable opportunities at the right price are identified."

Additionally, building on the successful experience at Croydon in South London, the group plans to establish its contemporary operating formats in affluent London suburbs and in major markets around the M25.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

teddy has taken her profit at 6p, bought at 4.25p

very happy teddy

Nice one Teddy ..... staying with mine despite todays gyrations .... typical results day in this market.



ains

CEO being interviewed on cnbc now

What did he say?

curious teddy

He was very upbeat about performance to date and the ongoing situation. Made the point that the time and money invested over last year will reflect in next years figures.

Questioned on tourists - he made the point hat most customers are UK based

Questioned on conges. charge - he made the point it will have zero effect - customers are already in city or arrive after charge ends.

Overall he said it was down to them to continue taking customers away from their competition and this was not a prob


ains

interesting run of small sells plus a couple of small mmm sells which are pushing the bid down



ains

Thanks.

happy teddy

Looks like you got it right in the ST - buyers coming in at lower levels now and mm's turning blue ..... or green as it happens on moneyam


ains

I see the Sunday Times are running a Style Dining Offer with various Tiger Tiger Restaurants/clubs via the 'Style' Magazine ..... all helps




ains

Ainsoph - 09 Mar'03 - 20:41 - 136 of 137

Ok, I've had enough of shamelessly ramping my stocks, and deluding investors to bouy my gapping losses. I cant think of words that could redeem my actions, I can only say I am Sorry, and that I could of made alot of money if I'd have shorted the stocks I was long. shorters are not evil, quite the contrary. The reason I've been so stuborn and misleading in the past is because I was jealous, I have lost alot of my money and my familys, and it has taken its toll on my mental health, I have been bitter and lied in the past but again I am sorry for verbaly lashing out, please accept my apology anyone who feels its relevant/due. In fact I may short sell TAD, it is a dog after all.

































Carlsberg don't do cut n pastes, but if they did, they'd Probably be the best in the world!
;D

Ains
just give me the world old chap and i`ll have that paul creeps PC in pieces

hack, cockroach, spalt

heheheheheh


MADGER

several big delayed trades at the mid

are buyers returning at these much lower levels and when is the best time to buy..I am considering buying as I have heard there might be a management buy out at some stage..