13th Oct 2020 09:38
(Alliance News) - Pub and restaurants operator Mitchells & Butlers PLC on Tuesday said it has opened redundancy consultations with "a number of our front-line team" due to the "exceptionally challenging" trading environment created by Covid-19 and government restrictions to check its spread.
The announcement by the FTSE 250-listed company follows the setting out of the UK government's new three-tier restriction system for England, with the Liverpool city region placed in the most serious "very high" risk category from Wednesday.
Shares in Mitchells & Butlers were down 4.6% at 134.36 pence each in London on Tuesday morning. Year-to-date the stock has lost a staggering 71% in value.
The company - which owns the Harvester, O'Neills, and All Bar One chains - did not confirm the number of redundancies, but said it would seek to redeploy affected staff.
Mitchells & Butlers operates around 1,700 restaurants and pubs and employs around 44,000 people all over the UK, according to the company's website.
A company spokesperson said: "Our industry is operating in exceptionally challenging and uncertain circumstances. While we have worked incredibly hard to makes sites Covid-19 secure and keep staff and customers safe, we are facing significant difficulties from the recently introduced 10pm curfew for pubs, bars and restaurants, new enforced closures and tapering government support that doesn’t go far enough.
"Mitchells and Butlers, like many others in the sector, has taken the very difficult and regrettable decision to open redundancy consultations with a number of our front-line team and will seek to redeploy affected staff wherever possible. With trading restrictions and uncertainty likely to continue for the foreseeable future, we strongly urge the government to step up the level of support it is offering to an industry which has been repeatedly singled out and taken the full brunt of restrictions."
By Tapan Panchal; [email protected]
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