Business
FY26 Trading Update
XP Factory plc reported full-year Group revenue exceeding £59 million for the 52 weeks ending March 29, 2026, a slight increase from £58 million in the prior year, with pre-IFRS 16 adjusted EBITDA expected to be marginally ahead of revised market expectations of £5.1 million. The company experienced strong growth in its Escape Hunt Owner Operated segment with an 11% revenue increase and 3.8% like-for-like growth, while its Boom Battle Bar segment saw 2% revenue growth despite an 8% like-for-like decline, which was still ahead of the competitive socialising industry average. Net debt excluding lease liabilities stood at £5.7 million. The company also initiated £1 million in annualised HQ cost reductions, expected to fully benefit FY27, and aims to grow its Escape Hunt Owner Operated estate to 100 sites. Disclaimer*
About this update from Xp Factory Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n12 May 2026\n\nXP Factory plc\n(\"XP Factory\", the \"Company\" or the \"Group\")\n \nFY26 Trading Update\n\"Resilience in challenging market conditions, underlying EBITDA marginally ahead of revised market expectations\" 1\n \nXP Factory, one of the UK's leading experiential leisure businesses operating the Escape Hunt® and Boom Battle Bar® (\"Boom\") brands, is pleased to provide an unaudited update on trading for the 52 week period covering 1 April 2025 to 29 March 20262 ('FY26')\n \nHighlights\nFinancial\n· Full year Group revenue of more than £59m (12 months ended 31 March 2025 (\"FY25\"): £58m)\n· Pre-IFRS 16 adjusted EBITDA expected to be marginally ahead of the revised market expectations of £5.1m (FY25: £6.6m)\n· Net debt excluding lease liabilities as at 29 March 2026 of £5.7m (31 March 2025: £4.9m)\n· Escape Hunt Owner Operated (\"O&O\"): Continued strong growth\no Revenue growth: +11%, driven by LFL growth and net new site openings\no O&O LFL growth: +3.8%\no Material labour cost increases driven by rises in National Insurance contributions and National Living Wage\n· Boom O&O: Positive overall growth \no Revenue growth: +2%, driven by the annualisation of prior year franchisee acquisitions, and net site openings\no O&O LFL decline: -8%, modestly ahead of the competitive socialising industry which experienced a LFL decline of -9%3 in the comparable period\no Disciplined cost control partially mitigating materially higher labour and supplier cost inflation\no 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\n \nStrategic Progress\n· New openings: Two new Escape Hunt sites opened in Canterbury and Sheffield. One new Boom site opened in Reading\n· Group Portfolio at year end:\no Escape Hunt sites:\n§ O&O: 27, of which 24 are in the UK\n§ Franchise: 18, all international\n \no Boom sites:\n§ O&O: 25, of which 24 are in the UK\n§ Franchise: 5, all UK-based\n· Colchester Escape Hunt site open...