Restructuring in the leisure sector: what does the future hold?

The coronavirus pandemic has meant an almost total shutdown of the UK’s leisure sector for large parts of the last year. With ever changing guidelines for leisure facilities, management teams across the sector have been forced to take quick action to preserve their operations as revenues and cash generation have decreased.

With paths out of lockdown now in place, leisure businesses will be preparing to seize the opportunities of the restart.

However, there will still be challenges that the leisure sector will face. Businesses will be facing legacy liabilities – such as deferred rent or emergency government support – that they will need to unwind, and will need to ensure they have adequate working capital to power through their re-opening.

Meanwhile, shifts in how we live and work could challenge some firms’ pre-pandemic operating models, as well as ongoing cautiousness around transmission risks threatens footfall in the short term.

In our latest publication, Restructuring Advisory Partners Ian Corfield and Phil Armstrong explore the pressures and headwinds the sector has faced throughout the pandemic, and what management teams will need to consider in the months ahead to ensure their re-opening has the strongest possible start.