COPPA COLLECTIVE PLC (COPC) — Acquisition and Strategy Update - Launching the Next Phase of Growth

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning, and welcome to the COPPA COLLECTIVE PLC Acquisition and Strategy Update Investor Presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. A session. Before we begin, I would like to submit the following poll, and I would now like to hand you over to CEO, Mark Loughborough. Good morning to you. Thanks, Alex. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for your time today. For those that I haven't met, I'm Mark Loughborough, the CEO of COPPA COLLECTIVE, formerly Verus Eateries. Wanna start with a simple point. The narrative around UK hospitality is broadly negative. Cost pressures, consumer weakness, and a sector that many probably see as challenged. Reality is probably a little bit more nuanced. People are going out slightly less often, but when they do, they're spending more and they're becoming far more selective about where they spend that money. That creates a tougher market for the average operator, but also creates a very attractive market for businesses set up in the right way. And that's where we think we are now. We've been working hard to build a stronger, more focused, and more scalable business. And with COPPA COLLECTIVE, and now Linwood, we believe we've got the portfolio suited to how the market works today. What we wanna show you today is that we're a very different business to the one that some investors may remember and one that's hopefully worthy of your attention. The key point on this slide is the business now has the leadership team and board with real experience in building value in hospitality. I joined in 2025 having spent over thirty years in hospitality, including fourteen years at Young's, where I was part of the leadership team that helped to transform the business into one of The UK's most admired...