Pizza Express ‘highly likely' to launch debt restructuring

This is despite the chain’s £70 million loan last month.

Pizza Express is 'highly likely' to launch a restructuring of its debt.

This Is Money reported that credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) said the latest measure was agreed ahead of deadlines for two smaller loans due in August, tagged as an “an additional step toward a comprehensive restructuring” of the chain’s more than £1 billion debt.

Pizza Express is due to repay £465 million to bondholders next year and an additional £200 million come 2022.

S&P said the business now faces “additional hurdles...amid an extremely challenging competitive environment exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Read the full report here.