Thu 8th Jul 2021 - PizzaExpress concludes long-term refinancing, transformational year for brand PizzaExpress concludes long-term refinancing, transformational year for brand: PizzaExpress has announced it has concluded its long-term refinancing with £335m senior secured five-year bonds at 6.75%. At the same time, chief executive David Campbell said the past year had been a “transformational” one for the circa 350-strong business and that since reopening indoor dining on 17 May, the chain had seen both “good and consistent trade”. Campbell, chief executive of PizzaExpress, said: “We are delighted to announce we have finalised a successful long-term refinancing of PizzaExpress with £335m senior secured five-year bonds at 6.75%. The past year has been a transformational one for PizzaExpress – marked by the change of ownership last November. Moody’s, S&P and Fitch all recognised this new PizzaExpress, with its new management team and ownership, is not the old PizzaExpress and have all assigned B flat (B/B2) stable ratings. The debt levels are now more than half what they were under prior ownership. We took the opportunity during lockdown to focus on improving parts of our business that were still open – specifically dine-out and retail – and our teams have done a brilliant job. In delivery, we renewed our partnership with Deliveroo and with our increased operational focus and additional marketing, have outperformed the Deliveroo index every week this year. In retail, working closely with our licensees and retail partners, we have continued to build momentum achieving a top 100 retail brand status, leading in three categories and listings for new products in two additional categories. Since reopening dine-in on 17 May 2021, we have seen both good and consistent trade in our pizzerias, we have hired more than 1,000 new team members and, alongside our existing restaurant teams, we are delivering a new level of service to deliver a best-in-class restaurant experience. On 21 June, we introduced a brand new menu with loaded dough balls, some great new pizzas, including some excellent vegan pizzas, as well as a vegan bowl. As we look forward to the end of restricted trading on 19 July, we have a much fitter company. We are very excited about the future on the back of strong results in the first half of 2021, the elimination of third-party discounting and an exciting pipeline of initiatives for the rest of 2021 and beyond.”