The group behind Haven holiday parks and Warner Leisure Hotels fell into the red after the sale of Butlin’s, it has been revealed.
Bourne Leisure, which is owned by investment giant Blackstone, has reported a pre-tax loss of £166.5m for 2023, according to newly-filed accounts with Companies House.
The loss comes after the group reported a pre-tax profit of £64.9m in 2022.
Butlin’s was sold for £300m towards the end of 2022 to the Harris family, who jointly established Bourne Leisure in 1964.
The new accounts filed with Companies House also show that the Hertfordshire-headquartered group’s turnover declined in 2023 from £1.1bn to just over £1bn.
As a result of the Butlin’s sale, the average number of people the group employed in the year dropped from 16,107 to 12,765.
In separate accounts, it was revealed that Haven itself increased its turnover from £744.4m to £814.4m in 2023 while its pre-tax profit also rose from £108.5m to £115.1m.
Haven owner looks to the future after Butlin’s deal
A statement signed off by the board said: “The group faced and maintained tight control over inflationary cost pressures, particularly on utilities, food and labour costs largely driven by the national living wage changes.”
It added: “During 2023 we continued to deliver against a number of strategic initiatives across the business.
“We improved our digital experience for our guests, owners and teams, migrated a number of our legacy systems to the cloud, improved our revenue management capability, enhanced our guests and owner propositions across each brand and constantly focused on cost reduction and mitigation against the highest levels of inflation we have seen for decades.”
The group also said: “In 2023, the group saw an increase in demand for holidays within the UK which has seen the group thrive and increase sales revenue.
“The group is in a strong position, with EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] expected to increase further in 2024.”
The accounts for Butlin’s are due to be filed with Companies House by the end of September 2024.
In June this year, the group’s owner Blackstone completed the acquisition of Village Hotels.
Funds managed by Blackstone snapped up the company from affiliates of KSL Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum.
Village Hotels owns and operates 33 sites across the UK and was put up for auction in February.
Last month, the UK’s largest pension fund has acquired 3,000 homes from Blackstone for more than £400m.