Richard Caring sells The Ivy Collection, Annabel’s and Scott’s for £1.4bn: Serial sector investor Richard Caring has sold a majority stake in The Ivy Collection, Annabel’s, Scott’s and the rest of his high-end restaurants and private members’ club empire to an Abu Dhabi luxury investor in a deal worth £1.4bn. The Sunday Times reports that Caring has completed the sale to Diafa, the Abu Dhabi–based luxury and hospitality investor and affiliate of IHC Group, according to City sources. IHC is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi and younger brother of the UAE president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The final touches were being put to the deal this weekend, with an announcement expected within the next 48 hours. It is understood that Caring will remain as executive chairman of the group, which plans to take the Ivy Brasserie concept to the US. Propel understands that the deal does not include Bill’s, the restaurant business also backed by Caring. Diafa’s portfolio includes Zuma and Roka. The company is believed to have parachuted in Ravi Thakran, former chairman of Bernard Arnault’s LVMH business in Asia and founder of L Capital Asia, the private equity arm backed by LVMH, as the combined entity’s new chief executive. The sale, which also includes the restaurants Sexy Fish and Noema as well as Harry’s Bar, George and Mark’s Club, will draw a line under a long period of uncertainty over the future ownership of the group. It first emerged that Caring was seeking to sell off a stake in his empire in late 2023. Amid multiple false dawns, fears were growing that the sales process would need to be shelved. IHC ranks among the most valuable companies on Abu Dhabi’s stock exchange. It has previously sealed a number of hospitality investments, including in Greek luxury resort chain Nammos. The valuation, understood to be more than £1.4bn, represents a hefty multiple on the group’s earnings. Troia (UK) Restaurants, which represents the restaurant element of the businesses being sold, posted adjusted earnings of £58m on £303m of turnover last year. The Ivy Collection operates circa 50 sites across the UK and Ireland. For the year ending 5 January 2025, The Ivy Collection reported turnover increased to a record £327,126,000 compared with £314,744,000 the year before. This included £104,000 in franchise income compared with £143,000 the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA was up to £61,869,000 from £57,484,000 the year before. In February, Propel revealed that Annabel’s reported turnover increased to £55,581,000 for the year ending 5 January 2025 compared with £52,275,000 the year before. Of the 2025 turnover, £25,721,000 came from food and beverage sales (2023: £25,535,000), £25,804,000 from membership income (2023: £23,400,000) and £4,056,000 from registration income (2023: £3,740,000). Adjusted EBITDA was up to a record £16,867,000 from £11,502,000 the previous year. Latest available accounts show Caprice Holdings, Caring’s high-end restaurant business that operates ten sites across the UK, reported revenue increased to a record £97,066,000 for the year ending 31 December 2023 compared with £74,364,000 the year before. The operator of Scott’s and Sexy Fish saw adjusted EBITDA fall to £10,057,000 from £12,253,000 the previous year as administrative overheads increased by almost £25m to £81,125,000.

 

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.

 

Wonderfield reports rapid kiosk growth in the UK, contraction of YO Sushi business: Wonderfield, the international company that owns YO! Sushi, has reported it made a pre-tax profit of $47,216,000 in the year to 31 March 2025 – it reversed a $97,607,000 loss from the period before, which was a 70-week period. Turnover dropped to $671,722,00 from $729,648,000 the year before. It runs 4,522 kiosks (2024: 4,242) of which the majority – 3,956 – are franchised. During the year, the company more than doubled the number of Japanese franchised kiosks it operates in the UK with 299 net openings – this increased from six to 12% the percentage of kiosks in the UK within the total global universe of 3,956. In addition, the company converted many of its UK kiosks from managed to franchised – by the year-end, managed kiosks had gone from 33% of the total to just 6%. Turnover from the global estate of kiosks, largely royalty income, increased from $158.5m to $204m. The company reported it closed ten YO! Sushi restaurants in the UK during the year to bring estate size to 41 sites In September 2023 – it only has 13 corporate restaurants outside of the UK. Turnover across these restaurants decreased from $105.7m to $75.5m because of UK closures and the shorter reporting period. It also reported sales of its pre-packed Japanese food products increased by 28% – and a bigger UK commissary became operational in January 2026. The company was bought by Japan’s largest food service company by sales Zensho for $621m.