XP Factory plc (LON:XPF), one of the UK’s leading experiential leisure businesses operating the Escape Hunt® and Boom Battle Bar® brands, has provided an unaudited update on trading for the 52 week period covering 1 April 2025 to 29 March 20262 (FY26)
Highlights
Financial
· Full year Group revenue of more than £59m (12 months ended 31 March 2025 (“FY25”): £58m)
· Pre-IFRS 16 adjusted EBITDA expected to be marginally ahead of the revised market expectations of £5.1m (FY25: £6.6m)
· Net debt excluding lease liabilities as at 29 March 2026 of £5.7m (31 March 2025: £4.9m)
· Escape Hunt Owner Operated (“O&O”): Continued strong growth
o Revenue growth: +11%, driven by LFL growth and net new site openings
o O&O LFL growth: +3.8%
o Material labour cost increases driven by rises in National Insurance contributions and National Living Wage
· Boom O&O: Positive overall growth
o Revenue growth: +2%, driven by the annualisation of prior year franchisee acquisitions, and net site openings
o O&O LFL decline: -8%, modestly ahead of the competitive socialising industry which experienced a LFL decline of -9%3 in the comparable period
o Disciplined cost control partially mitigating materially higher labour and supplier cost inflation
o Initial signs of sector consolidation starting to accelerate; as a market-leading operator, Boom is well positioned to emerge as a winner when market conditions improve, consistent with XP Factory’s prior experience in Escape Rooms
Strategic Progress
· New openings: Two new Escape Hunt sites opened in Canterbury and Sheffield. One new Boom site opened in Reading
· Group Portfolio at year end:
o Escape Hunt sites:
– O&O: 27, of which 24 are in the UK
– Franchise: 18, all international
o Boom sites:
– O&O: 25, of which 24 are in the UK
– Franchise: 5, all UK-based
· Colchester Escape Hunt site opened in April (post period end)
· HQ cost reductions: the Group has initiated annualised cost reductions of approximately £1m, with limited impact in FY26 and the full benefit expected during FY27
· Medium-term potential: grow Escape Hunt O&O estate to 100 sites
· Trading during FY27 has been in line with Board expectations
Commenting, Richard Harpham, Chief Executive of XP Factory plc said: “Against a backdrop of well-documented industry challenges, we have continued to outperform industry benchmarks. Escape Hunt continues to demonstrate the strength of its proposition, delivering remarkably strong and consistent returns across the estate. Whilst trading conditions within the Competitive Socialising market have remained difficult, we are confident that Boom, as a scale operator, will prove to be a long-term winner as the industry consolidates.”
1 Company-compiled consensus for FY 2026 Revenue and EBITDA (pre-IFRS 16), based on the mean average of two analyst estimates, stands at £59.4m and £5.1m, respectively.
2 Accounting period changed from a 12-month basis to a 52-week basis reflecting the transition to a 4-4-5 management accounting calendar
3 Source: CGA RSM Hospitality tracker, average weekly LFL for Experiential Venues for the 52 weeks to 29 March 2026
