Patisserie Valerie Ebitda near £10m; plans 18 new openings: Café chain Patisserie Valerie, led by Paul May, has reported that Ebitda rose to £9.6m in the year to 30 September 2012, up from £8m the year before. Turnover rose to £49,5111,423 from £40,482,648 the year before. Pre-tax profit stood at £5,895,285 compared to £4,595,649 in the prior year. The company stated: “During the year 18 new sites were opened and all are trading positively and are making good contributions to the group. Despite the current economic climate the management remains optimistic about trading and currently the business is ahead of last year for the first three months to date. It is the directors’ intention to continue the group’s opening programme with a plan for the next financial year in lie with the number opened in this year. To date four sites have opened since the year end with trade in all being encouraging.” The company, which has 1,500 staff, reported it targets a cash payback and return on capital expenditure with a target in excess of 40% return and two-year payback on average. The balance sheet shows positive shareholders’ funds of £6,173,574 (2011- £1,865,788) after taking account of shareholders loans of £5.6m.

Gordon Ramsay accounts filed at Companies House providing more detail: Kavalake, the name of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant company, has filed full accounts at Companies House showing pre-tax profit of £2,444,000, compared to a loss of £4,060,000 the year before. The accounts, released in part to the Sunday newspapers, show like-for-like sale rose 3% in the year ended 31 August 2012 – turnover was up 13% in the UK driven by new openings. Its Bread Street Kitchen opening served 120,000 customers in its first year. Exceptional items reduced to £255,000 for the year compared to £4,165,000 the year before when Ramsay parted company with his father-in-law Chris Hutcheson. Overall turnover declined by £2.8m but only because of the closure of the loss-making Australian operation, which had turnover of £7,851,000 in 2011. Ramsay has a personal guarantee of £2,176,800 in place, down from £3.5m the year before.