Escape Hunt and Boom Battle Bar operator reports record full year revenue, forced to close original Escape Hunt site but ‘robust pipeline advancing well’: XP Factory, which operates the Escape Hunt and Boom Battle Bar brands, has reported record full year revenue for the year ended 31 March 2025. Its full year group revenue of £57.3m was up 17% on the prior year (year ended 31 March 2024: £48.0m), with Escape Hunt up 7% to £14.1m and Boom Battle Bar up 30% to £41.9m. The company said total group like-for-like revenue growth was 2.5%, with Escape Hunt up 3.2% and Boom Battle Bar up 2.3%. It said pre-IFRS 16 adjusted Ebitda is expected at the upper end of market expectations, with market expectations of £6.2m to £6.4m, while prior year pre-IFRS 16 adjusted Ebitda was £5.1m. The company said it has a “robust pipeline of new sites advancing well”, with Canterbury Escape Hunt and Reading Boom Battle Bar expected to open shortly. It has five new sites in heads of terms, with legals progressing, while two additional offers have been made. “The year ended 31 March 2025 represented another strong period of trading at XP Factory, including an exceptional festive period, with both businesses generating positive like-for-like sales in a challenging consumer environment,” the company said. “With a clearly defined target to deliver £90m sales and £13m pre-IFRS 16 adjusted Ebitda for FY28, a robust pipeline of new sites is being developed. The underlying cash generation from operations, combined with a £10m revolving credit facility, provides the balance sheet strength to execute this. Owner operated revenues at Escape Hunt were circa £14.1m in the 12 months to 31 March 2025, +3.2% on a like-for-like basis. New sites in Worcester, Glasgow and Cambridge opened between August and December 2024 and have all started strongly. Canterbury opened at the beginning of May 2025, and there is a robust pipeline for future site openings through the remainder of FY26. Unfortunately, Escape Hunt's first ever site, Birmingham Central, was forced to close in March 2025 after the shopping centre in which it was located ceased operations at short notice. The group is actively searching for a replacement site. Owner operated Boom revenue was circa £41.9m in the 12 months to 31 March 2025, +2.3% on a like-for-like basis. Boom Cambridge has continued to perform strongly since opening in December 2024, with Boom Reading due to open in June 2025. Following an exceptional Christmas period, trading in both businesses continued strongly through January and February 2025, with Escape Hunt +6.3% like-for-like in the first eight weeks of the calendar year, and Boom +1.9% like-for-like in the equivalent period. In line with industry data, both businesses were negatively affected by the timing of Easter (March 2024 versus April 2025) and the unseasonal weather in March (the sunniest on record), driving negative like-for-like in both brands in March. Normalising for these impacts, the Board would have expected the like-for-like trend to have continued as previously.” Group chief executive Richard Harpham added: “I am delighted that XP Factory has delivered another year of strong and profitable growth, reflecting our customers’ demand for fun and affordable leisure activities, and our team’s dedication to providing market-leading levels of customer satisfaction. While macro uncertainties remain and unseasonal weather has impacted our most recent trading, we are confident in our outlook. Our new sites continue to generate industry leading returns on capital, and we are excited about the growth runway ahead of us as we progress in our strategy to double Ebitda to £13m by FY28.”

 

Brighton Pier Group trading on JP Jenkins: Brighton Pier Group has said it is now trading on the JP Jenkins dealing platform. The group last month announced its proposal to go private and to cease trading on AIM after undertaking a review of its strategic options. The group – which operates Brighton Pier alongside five bars, adventure golf business Paradise Island and the Lightwater Valley adventure park in North Yorkshire – said staying listed no longer made financial sense. In an update, the company said: “Brighton Pier Group today announces its shares have been admitted to trade on JP Jenkins share dealing platform. The Brighton Pier Group owns and trades Brighton Palace Pier, as well as five premium bars nationwide, eight indoor mini-golf sites and the Lightwater Valley Family Adventure Park in North Yorkshire. Brighton Palace Pier welcomes up to four million visitors per year and offers a wide range of attractions including two arcades (with over 300 machines) and nineteen funfair rides, together with a variety of on-site hospitality and catering facilities. JP Jenkins provides a share trading venue for unlisted or unquoted assets in companies, enabling shareholders and prospective investors to buy and sell equity on a matched bargain basis. JP Jenkins is a trading name of InfinitX and appointed representative of Prosper Capital.”

 

South coast theme park set to reopen: A much-loved attraction on the south coast that closed down in 2023 is set to reopen. Adventure Wonderland, located right next to Bournemouth airport, first opened in 1992 and quickly became a family favourite with its Alice in Wonderland themed rollercoasters and classic rides. But after more than 30 years, rising costs forced the park to shut its outdoor attractions in 2022, and the indoor play area followed suit the year after. The theme park released a statement at the time, blaming the current trading climate and steep increase in key costs across the board for its closure. However, plans for a downscaled attraction have now been put into action, and the park will reopen this year after undergoing a huge transformation, reports The Sun. The park is set to relaunch as a smaller adventure park with attractions such as go-karting, mini golf, and a maze. There will also be a café and shop opening as part of the site. As most of the buildings are staying put and being repurposed instead of rebuilt, the park's remodelling is expected to be fairly quick. While there’s no confirmed opening date yet, the plan is to have the attraction up and running later in 2025. Originally a pick-your-own fruit farm, Adventure Wonderland expanded into a full-on theme park in the 1990s. At its peak, it welcomed around 180,000 visitors a year and featured notable atmosphere characters such as Alice, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter, and rides like a rollercoaster, teacups and a log flume. In 2005, the park added Wild Thing, a huge indoor play area that became a big hit with younger kids.