Dorcaster to buy escape entertainment franchise for £12m

AIM-listed investor Dorcaster is to buy Experiential Ventures, the holding company of Escape Hunt group, an entertainment franchise, for £12m, partly funded from an equity placing.

The company will also change its name to Escape Hunt plc, subject to shareholder approval at the next meeting on 2 May. On approval, its AIM ticker will be changed to ESC and its website address will be changed to www.escapehunt.com.

The acquisition is part of the company’s to strategy is to buy controlling stakes in one or more quoted or unquoted companies in the consumer and leisure sectors to create multiple revenue streams.

To fund the acquisition and to provide additional working capital, the company will place 10.37m shares at 135p each to raise £14m before expenses.

The new shares, will represent about 51.2% of the enlarged share capital, will be admitted to on AIM on 3 May.

In 2016, Escape Hunt Group generated revenue of about £1.1m revenue, pre-tax profit about £300,000 and had net liabilities of some £400,000.

The company’s said that Escape Hunt Group is “highly profitable” with high levels of cash generation, achieving an adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin of 35% and operating cash conversion of 131% last year.