<p>There will be a series of emails with attachments coming your way. On a separate note following our call last week I thought I should provide some reflections on what was discussed;</p>

<p><strong>Valuations / open market sales</strong> &ndash; although formal valuations are being instructed its important to manage expectations now. It was mentioned on the call that there is appetite from shareholders in Harcourt Pub Ltd that an open market sales process is carried out. Speaking to agents at Savills, Fleurets and AG&amp;G there isn&rsquo;t a market right now nor is there expected to be one in the short term.</p>

<p>Savills valued the Harcourt prior to COVID-19 at &pound;3.05m and Fleurets valued the Harcourt post COVID-19 at &pound;2.2m with a &ldquo;fire sale&rdquo; value of &pound;1.8m.</p>

<p><strong>Reopening in 2020</strong> &ndash; whilst I agree that we need to make a decision on &lsquo;if and when&rsquo; each pub reopens in 2020 based on forecasts (taking into account any customer and employee goodwill lost if pubs don&rsquo;t reopen in 2020) we need to come up with a robust plan for the banks/lenders as they have already started asking about plans regarding reopening, refinancing, restructuring or recapitalisation. Simply saying the pubs wont reopen for 2020 will not be sufficient for lenders.</p>

<p>We also need to consider the implications of making all staff redundant and then rehiring six months later. It&rsquo;s not as binary as suggested on the call as quality employees are hard to find even in a stronger recruitment market and that&rsquo;s before you look at training and integrating new employees into the pubs and the costs associated.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Global solution</strong>&nbsp; - It&rsquo;s important that we look at the portfolio as a whole as any solutions may well enhance value as a portfolio and it&rsquo;s also important that we ensure central costs remain sustainable for all pubs. You touch upon central costs in your letter and its very important for the sustainability of all the pubs in the short term to medium term that a viable solution is found. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Rachel cannot make a call on Fri and in fact I have devoted much of this week to providing the information you requested and so I need to spend the next 48 hours focusing on reopening plans and forecasts &ndash; which will naturally be circulated as promised.</p>

<p>I suggest a call either Tues, Wed or Thurs mornings next week.</p>

<p>Regards,&nbsp; James McCulloch</p>