XP Factory reports recent rise in sales after tough period

(Sharecast News) - XP Factory reported a rebound in like-for-like sales across its Escape Hunt and Boom Battle Bar brands over recent weeks in an update on Wednesday, following a difficult first quarter hit by hot weather, higher labour costs and economic uncertainty.

For the 19 weeks to 10 August, group-owned site revenue rose 12% year-on-year, supported by new openings in Reading and Canterbury and an expansion at Birmingham Resorts World.

Escape Hunt saw like-for-like growth of 0.4% year-to-date, with sales up 8.6% in the six weeks to 10 August after offsetting a 3.5% fall in the first quarter.

Boom's year-to-date like-for-like sales were meanwhile down 5.6%, but excluding the impact of Euro 2024, returned to growth of 0.2% over the same six-week period.

XP Factory's management said strong cost controls and renegotiated supplier contracts had largely mitigated the earnings impact from weaker first-quarter trading.

Corporate bookings, which had been subdued earlier in the year, were now up 2% year-to-date, with the pipeline of expected bookings materially ahead of last year.

The company said it had five further sites in advanced discussions, as it remained on track to meet its medium-term expansion targets to March 2028.

The new Boom site in Reading was trading "materially ahead of plan", while initial trading at new Escape Hunt sites was in line with expectations.

XP Factory said it remained "cautiously optimistic" about meeting full-year market expectations, subject to continued trading momentum and a robust corporate season in the final quarter of the calendar year.

Its full-year results for the 12 months ended 31 March would be published on 1 September.

At 1318 BST, shares in XP Factory were down 8.08% at 9.79p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.