Exclusive – BrewDog collapse leaves creditors estimated £480m out-of-pocket: An administrator’s report into the collapse of Scottish brewer and retailer BrewDog shows an estimated £480m of debt will be left unpaid. Unsecured creditors in the UK will be owed circa £395m – a 1p in the pound pay-out is expected from the PLC – whilst lenders will be left owing as much as circa £85m. On the bars side of the business in the UK, HSBC, the senior secured lender, will be left with nothing of the £32.5m it lent – and in the main PLC business it will be circa £25m out-of-pocket. Outside of the UK administrations, additional returns may flow to the bank from the sale of the US and Australia assets. The administrator AlixPartners states: “Shareholders are not anticipated to receive any return in the administrations. On this basis, any shares essentially have no value. This includes any shares held under PLC’s Equity for Punks scheme.” The Equity for Punks scheme raised an estimated £70m from 200,000 investors across seven crowd-funding rounds. The report states: “The companies had faced continued pressures in the brewing and hospitality sectors and in September 2025 sought to evaluate the strategic options available to improve the long-term profitability of the BrewDog business. The strategic review considered various potential restructuring options as well as a going concern sales process run by Rothschild which commenced in December 2025. The process ultimately resulted in three non-binding offers being received by mid-January 2026. However, it was concluded these offers were not deliverable on a solvent basis. Due to inability to complete a going-concern sale, combined with increasing liquidity pressures and the absence of any further funding options, PLC instructed AlixPartners to commence an accelerated sales process alongside detailed contingency planning in anticipation of a potential insolvency. The process resulted in six indicative offers being received which were progressed in parallel until it became clear that the offer from Tilray Brands UK would offer the best return to the creditors of the companies as a whole.” On the options the administrator faced, it stated: “The business (was) not sufficiently cash generative to be able to support any form of payment to enable the continuation of trade. Due to this lack of cash and the absence of any further funding a CVA, Scheme or Plan were not feasible in the circumstances.” The sale price of £32.9m were allocated as follows: £10.1m to Intellectual Property, £15m to plant and machinery, £2m to freehold property, £950,000 to leasehold property, and £4.8m to stock. The sum of £100,000 was allocated to Draft House in respect of one of its leasehold properties. Tilray has been granted a licence to occupy for six months at ten bars whilst it negotiates assignments with respective landlords. AlixPartners is marketing remaining bar sites through Global Mutual and it reports a “good level of interest in respect of a number of leasehold sites”. At the date of administration, co-founder James Watt owned 14,277,037 shares (19.15%) and co-founder Martin Dickie owned 15,744,233 shares (21.12%). Private equity investor TSG is owed £71m in loan notes to the bar division. No return is expected on a further £54m of secured debt. 

 

Propel launches Unlimited Plus option for Premium subscribers: Propel has launched a new Premium Unlimited Plus option for Propel subscribers. The Unlimited Plus option, which costs £1,995 plus VAT per annum, has some amazing additional benefits to the unlimited option which costs £995 plus VAT. Subscribers get four free tickets to Propel’s paid-for conferences – Excellence in Pub & Bar (19 May), Operational Excellence (9 July) and Talent & Training (15 October) – and the opportunity to run one free sponsored message or situation vacant notice during the year on the newsletter. Existing subscribers can upgrade immediately if they want and the clock starts again on their year. The additional benefits are worth circa £2,500. Propel managing director Paul Charity said: “The Premium subscription is like a loyalty club and these additional benefits are a response to the requests for a fuller package of benefits. Existing subscribers can upgrade straightaway – and their year’s membership re-starts. We have held the price of Premium membership for four years whilst adding benefits. Existing price points and benefits carry on – this is simply a chance to enjoy even more benefits.” Email: kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com to sign up for Premium. 

 

Tim Hortons UK & Ireland like-for-like sales up 9%, clear gap in branded coffee shop market provides “massive potential headroom opportunity”: Tim Hortons UK & Ireland, which currently operates 69 sites across the country, has reported that its like-for-like sales were up 9% in the ten weeks to 15 March 2026 – the fifth consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth for the group. The performance comes as the group’s management believes there is a clear gap in the ‘Branded Coffee Shop’ segment, which is valued at circa £6bn, where it said “players often lack the breadth and quality of freshly prepared food, while outside the coffee shop universe QSR and food-to-go operators lack high quality beverage range and store experience – with both cohorts also challenged in delivering this combination at compelling value-for-money”. The company said it is “well positioned to capture this gap”. The company said: “The last two years have been critical for the group in completing a review of its operating footprint and refocusing its future growth strategy on the highest-performing part of the estate and its most productive formats and location types. As the group enters its next phase of expansion across the UK, it is planning to replicate the characteristics of its highest-performing locations to drive sustainable and profitable store growth. The group’s strong trading performance during FY25 and YTD 2026 reinforced management’s confidence in both (a) market opportunity and (b) Tim Hortons UK&I’s ability to address a clear gap in the market.” In FY25, the group said it saw strong like-for-like sales growth of 8.9%, with revenue reaching £105m, a momentum that has carried into the first quarter of FY26. It said that its FY25 performance was driven by like-for-like transactions growth of 4.8% and average ticket value growth of 4.1%. The company said: “In FY24, against a backdrop of high inflation, weak customer sentiment and management’s decision to safeguard the brand’s value-for-money proposition in the eyes of consumers by not taking a price increase, the group’s revenue reached £99.1m, while underlying Ebitda for the year FY24 was a loss of £7.3m also impacted by some one-off costs. When the management takes into consideration a) one time expenses and b) any shut down/lease exit related expenses, this improves the underlying Ebitda loss to £3.3m. In 2025 the positive sales trend, together with an improvement of operational efficiency, has put the group on a positive trajectory to deliver stronger results in coming years.” Earlier this month, the business extended its master franchise agreement with brand owner Restaurant Brands International (RBI) to 2045 and issued £26.7m equity to help support future growth. Deepinder Batth, chief executive of Tim Hortons UK & Ireland, said: “Tim Hortons is a well-known and resilient brand which is perfectly placed to double down on a very sizeable target market opportunity in the UK and Ireland. There is a clear gap in the market, at the intersection of QSRs and coffee shops, and Tim Hortons UK & Ireland has the ideal menu offering architecture and operating model, to service missions that pair a freshly prepared food item with a coffee or coffee-adjacent beverage. This market size is estimated to be circa £6bn, giving us a massive potential headroom opportunity. In the last two years (FY24 and FY25), the team has done a tremendous job in delivering an inspiring and resilient performance against a trying macro environment. Our FY24 and FY25 results are a testament to that surgical execution and our investment in the UK market for the long term. In turn, setting a great foundation for the brand’s future journey in the UK, and in building a deep relationship with the UK consumer, for the long term.”