Not looking so good on the dance floor for Luminar

The struggling nightclub operator Luminar unveiled another sales slump and a £123m slide into the red yesterday.

The Oceana and Liquid club operator, which has been hammered by youth unemployment in the recession, racked up the huge losses for the year to 25 February due to asset writedowns. It has seen like-for-like sales plummet 19.4 per cent during the first 10 weeks of the new financial year.

New chief executive Simon Douglas has closed or sold four of the group's 87 clubs since joining in March and plans to slash £10m in costs from the business this year. Another five are likely to be sold in the next three months. During the year Luminar welcomed 13.9 million clubbers but overall admission numbers were down 11.5 per cent. Shares in the company fell 32 per cent to 27p.