Case No. HT-11-503

below, as to whether it is appropriate to have regard to the actual figures on the facts of this case. But Mrs Rawlin was very clear that this was not something which she had independently considered: she was simply instructed that the actual figures were irrelevant and left them out of account altogether2. She had done, therefore, no calculations by reference to those actual figures and was not in a position to dispute Mr Isaac’s principal conclusion, to the effect that the actual figures demonstrated that The Oak was never going to be a profitable business. In this way, rather like the limited and flawed approach of Mr Woodall, the expert accountancy evidence called on behalf of Brit Inns was based on a very narrow argument, with no fall-back or alternative position if it was wrong. 5.5 The Relevance of Comparators 205.As a matter of principle, when assessing a loss of profit claim like this, it can be helpful to compare the performance of the business in question with the performance of a comparator business. Plainly, the degree of assistance to be derived from such a comparison will turn on whether the other business can properly be regarded as a comparator or not. In the present case, neither expert has searched out comparator businesses. The difference between them is that Mrs Rawlin was instructed that The King’s Head was an appropriate comparator and, assuming that this instruction was correct, she then did a series of calculations based on its rateable value. She did not herself do any assessment of whether or not The King’s Head was an appropriate comparator. Mr Isaac did undertake that exercise and he disputes, for a variety of reasons, that The King’s Head was an appropriate comparator. 5.6 Summary 206.For the reasons set out above, I do not accept the approach adopted by Mrs Rawlin. She assumed that The Oak was going to be profitable without questioning whether, as a new business, such an assumption was warranted. She did not consider this primarily as a claim for delay in generating profit, and instead assumed that any lost profit which she calculated once the business was up and running was in some way due to the inundations until a later event intervened, then made an arbitrary allowance for the effect of the first inundation. Unlike Mr Isaac, she failed to have regard to the actual figures once The Oak reopened in October 2007, and she based the entirety of her calculations for loss of profit on The King’s Head, a comparator that she did not herself find but which she was instructed to use. 207.As a matter of principle, therefore, I prefer Mr Isaac’s approach, because it made no assumption of profitability and was based on actual figures. The critical remaining question is whether Mr Isaac was entitled, in the particular circumstances of this case, to rely on the actual figures. 6. THE SUBROGATED CLAIM FOR LOSS OF PROFIT/ASSESSMENT 6.1 The Issues 208.As noted above, the principal issue is whether or not the actual figures for profit and loss generated by The Oak, once it started trading in October 2007, should be disregarded in their entirety for the purposes of calculating the loss of profit claim. I deal with that issue in