Write-down puts Po Na Na in red

BARS operator Po Na Na today reported a sharp plunge into the red as a huge write-down in the value of its estate conspired with delays in selling underperforming venues.

Po Na Na's shares have almost halved since the start of the year, suffering badly from an April trading statement warning that it was struggling to dispose of a number of loss-making sites.

At the time, it said it had sold just two earmarked for disposal. Only two more have been sold since then, leaving nine to go, of which four are at contract stage. The group, whose Hammersmith flagship club in London, host of the cult School Disco party nights, wrote off £5m on the value of those sites still on the block and booked a £1.8m loss on the sales carried out so far.

That led to last year's pre-tax profit of £1.5m being replaced by a deficit of £5.3m in the 12 months to 31 March. Turnover improved from £27.4m to £35.2m.

Chief executive Christian Arden said that the core ongoing estate performed well but the sites targeted for disposal racked up £1.6m of losses.