XP Factory’s audited results for the year to 29 March 2026 show group turnover up 3% to £59.6 million and adjusted EBITDA down to £5.5 million. For a franchise audience the figures underneath matter more: Escape Hunt’s franchised sites fell from 20 to 18, and Boom Battle Bar’s franchise income dropped 35%.
XP Factory plc runs two competitive socialising brands, Escape Hunt and Boom Battle Bar, through a mix of venues it operates itself and venues run by franchisees. One sells escape rooms, the other darts, axe throwing and crazier golf alongside food and drink. Pre-IFRS 16 adjusted EBITDA fell to £5.5 million from £6.6 million, the group posted a statutory operating loss of £0.5 million against a £1.7 million profit the year before, and net debt rose to £5.9 million. A £20 million revolving credit facility with HSBC was agreed during the period.
The franchised estate is getting smaller
Escape Hunt ended the year with 18 franchised sites, down from 20, while the venues it operates itself rose from 25 to 27, of which 24 are in the UK. Boom Battle Bar held at five franchised sites and 25 owner-operated, 24 of them British. Franchise income was around £0.5 million for each brand. Escape Hunt’s was down from £0.6 million, and Boom’s fell 35%, which the group puts down to the full-year effect of franchises it has bought in. Acquiring a franchisee’s venue removes the royalty from the accounts and adds the turnover instead.
Two formats, two very different sets of numbers
Escape Hunt turnover rose 11% to £15.8 million, with UK like-for-like sales up 4.6% and site-level EBITDA margins of 42%, down from 44%. Boom turnover rose 2% to £42.8 million, but UK like-for-likes fell 8% and site margins slipped to 17% from 18%. The group puts the wider competitive socialising market down about 9% over the same period. Boom opened in Reading in June 2025, closed Southend in January 2026, and has since closed its Dubai site.
Where the cost action landed
The group identified more than £2 million of annualised savings at site level through renegotiated supplier contracts, and took out £1 million of annualised head office cost, with the full benefit expected in the current year. Central costs still rose to £8.9 million, or 15.2% of turnover, from £8.4 million and 14.6% the year before. Richard Harpham, chief executive, says FY26 was a year in which the group “demonstrated resilience and operational discipline despite a challenging market backdrop”.
Good to know
A listed operator’s annual report is one of the few places a UK franchised estate appears in audited figures. There is no register of franchise agreements in this country and no filing that records outlet numbers, so for a private franchisor the network count is whatever the brand chooses to publish. XP Factory reports franchised and owner-operated sites separately, which is the only reason the movement between them can be seen. Readers wanting to compare investment levels across formats can check how much it typically costs to open a franchise in the UK.
What the current year is being judged on
Three Escape Hunt venues have opened since the year end, in Colchester, Wandsworth and Birmingham, with Cardiff under construction for an October 2026 opening. The group is working towards 100 owner-operated Escape Hunt sites across the UK and Ireland, a target that indicates where it expects its growth to come from. December business-to-business bookings are running 15% ahead of last year. Whether the franchised estate steadies or keeps contracting is the figure a franchise reader will be looking for in the next set of results.
