Savor signs new Auckland lease, shutters two venues

7th February 2025 By Staff Reporter | news@propertyticker.co.nz | @propertyticker

Hospitality group Savor says it has agreed on a lease with Britomart owner Cooper & Company for a new site at the Auckland shopping destination in early 2025.

The company, which has a circa 20-strong Auckland-centric portfolio, announced today that the first of its new entertainment offerings in Britomart is expected to open mid-year.

“As part of this arrangement, Savor has agreed an early exit of the lease of the Seafarers Building, resulting in the closure of the MoVida and Bar Non Solo businesses,” Savor said in a statement to the NZX.

MoVida opened in 2022, while Bar Non Solo had been operating for 13 years before both closed in December.

“Savor has been incentivised to enter into the new lease alongside the early exit of the current lease of the Seafarers Building, which was due to expire in November 2025,” the company said.

“While this means the closure of existing venues MoVida and Bar Non Solo, Savor has been fortunate to redeploy all affected employees across its other venues throughout Auckland and expects to leverage the existing asset base into the new site.”

The company noted that the impact of the lease changes would be accretive to both group revenue and profitability.

“Savor intends to classify the Seafarers business as a discontinued operation in the FY25 annual report to provide readers with an accurate representation of the results of the go-forward business.”

In a trading update, Savor said it had seen strong activity through November and December.

“Summer trading to date has demonstrated some green shoots of recovery in economic conditions, with the decline in trading experienced through the winter and spring months narrowing through the start of summer trading,” said the company.

“Savor reported at the annual shareholders meeting in September 2024 that group revenue was approximately 8% lower than 2024 (YTD August), however, that has now narrowed to approximately 5% (YTD December).

“Pleasingly, revenue for the month of December was within 1% of the prior year, demonstrating the continued recovery of the market as a whole.”

The company added that while it was optimistic that the recovery would continue, “given the level of uncertainty that remains throughout a number of market indicators, Savor is unable to provide earnings guidance for the current financial year”.