The restaurant group, PizzaExpress, is planning to shut down almost 15 per cent of its 449 restaurants in the UK, which will render almost 1,100 employees jobless. The Company, is on the lookout for a buyer, as part of a restructuring. Meanwhile, one of Europe’s biggest hotel groups, Accor, is also planning to slash 1,000 jobs as part of a €200 million ($236 million) per year cost-saving plan.
PizzaExpress plans to strike a deal with its secured creditors and its majority shareholder, which will include bringing down its external debt from £735 million ($959.84 million) to £319 million, a provision of up to 144 million pounds and the divestment of its mainland China business. In the absence of any bid from a third party, the restaurant group’s bondholders will acquire the Company.
During the pandemic, PizzaExpress outlets had been closed down. However, now, 166 of them are open and more will reopen soon, as demand has been picking up since last month.
Accor, which operates high-end hotel chains, such as Raffles and Sofitel, along with budget brands, such as Ibis is looking at bringing down its costs by 17 per cent, in a bid to recover from the slump brought on by the pandemic. Accor runs over 5,000 hotels in more than a 100 countries. Where exactly the jobs will be impacted is yet to be revealed.
