Report reveals Christie & Co advised on £800 million worth of leisure businesses in 2022

The report notes that there were clear signs of recovery across the UK leisure sector in 2022, however mounting operational headwinds and a reduction in household discretionary spending due to the cost-of-living crisis and inflation hitting a 40-year high will continue to pressure the sector in 2023, albeit some leisure businesses are better placed to weather the storm than others.

Experiential, outdoor, visitor attraction and staycation-led businesses experienced the most significant bounce back during spring and summer. This helped to keep the transactional market buoyant, as well as shaping buyer appetite, with sales of visitor attractions, holiday parks, holiday letting accommodation and experiential-led offerings continuing to dominate wider market activity.

Christie & Co’s Leisure team advised on a wide variety of leisure-based businesses during 2022, valuing close to £800 million worth of assets. By far the busiest aspect of Christie & Co’s leisure work across the year was the holiday park and lodge market. In this segment alone, we valued in excess of £325 million worth of sites.

Looking to the year ahead, the report suggests buyers are looking for discounted prices but these have not materially filtered through to the market as yet.  As such, we’re going to be in a “price discovery” period for some time.

The report also outlines Christie & Co’s market predictions which are:

• Investment yields to soften as a result of the greater cost of capital
• Reduction in household disposable income will impact discretionary spend. As a result, businesses within the luxury and value ends of the market will fare best
• We expect to see an uptick in business distress in 2023
• Continued staycation interest in high-quality holiday and lodge park opportunities, but sales of holiday park homes may have peaked given rise in interest rates and cost of living
• Weaker value of the pound may assist inbound international leisure and tourism

Jon Patrick, Head of Leisure & Development at Christie & Co comments, “Over my near four decades of guiding business owners and investors, it has become evident that when markets face the greatest challenges and uncertainty, the granular understanding that we have of our specialist sectors is most called upon, enabling us to assist, advise and help our clients navigate best outcomes for their businesses. 2023 is set to be another of those periods, and we anticipate a very busy year across both brokerage and advisory service lines.”

Click here to read the full report, ‘Business Outlook 2023: Finding Clarity’.

For further information on this press release, contact:
Bronte Hughes, Corporate Communications Manager

P: 020 7227 0794 or E: bronte.hughes@christie.com