Luminar mulls over future of Chicago Rock

The future of the Chicago Rock Café chain was under review today after its owner Luminar moved to address a year of unsatisfactory trading.

The late night bars and nightclub operator said it would look at all its options, including the possible sale of the 90-strong Entertainment division, featuring mostly Chicago Rock Cafes and a number of Jumpin’ Jaks bars.

Despite some successful bars, Luminar said trading in the division had been poor and led to a 4% fall in like-for-like sales in the year to February 28.

The decline came despite stronger performances from the company’s late night dancing clubs under the Oceana, Lava & Ignite, Liquid and Life brands.

As part of the strategic review Luminar said it would assess the level of resources required to improve the performance of the Entertainment division, compared with alternative strategies such as a sale.

With 53 other non-core clubs in its Enterprise division also up for disposal, the company added it would take a one-off charge of £50m (€72m) to reflect the amounts likely to be realised by any disposals.

England-based Luminar is expected to post underlying profits of around £56m (€80.6m) for the year to the end of February – down from £61.6m (€88.6m) last year.