Luminar nightclub dancefloors empty thanks to cold nights

Britons are staying at home rather going out dancing as nightclubs and bars chain Luminar today blamed "persistent poor weather" for "severely" hitting trade in the first two months of 2010.

Sales plunged 9.9% on a like-for-like basis between Christmas and the end of the financial year on 25 February compared with the same period a year earlier.

Luminar, whose founder Stephen Thomas quit as chief executive on 23 February, said falling sales were a direct result of a drop in customer numbers and pointed to a big rise in unemployment among its core audience in the 18-26 age group.

But the nightclubs operator, which runs the Oceana, Liquid and Lava & Ignite chains, added: "Sales per customer and gross margins have remained at similar levels to the previous year."

Luminar has launched a "rigorous cost reduction exercise". The board maintained that full-year profits, to be announced on 13 May, will be in line with expectation but the shares fell 4.2% to 34p.

Net borrowings stood at £93 million, down from £142 million, and Luminar says it continues to meet its debt covenants.

New CEO Simon Douglas, a former executive at music retailer Zavvi, who started this week will focus on creating "higher-quality" customer experience "at reasonable prices".

Luminar said: "We remain confident that this strategy will enable us to outperform competitors and maintain our market-leading position."