Thu 11th Sep 2014 - Prezzo reports sales up 16% in First Half Prezzo reports sales up 16% in First Half: Prezzo, the restaurant company headed by Jonathan Kaye, has reported that overall sales for the 26 weeks ended 29 June 2014 were 16% higher at £92.4m (2013 – £79.7m). The company declines to comment on like-for-like sales. Adjusted Ebitda was up 16% to £14.6m (2013 – £12.6m) whilst adjusted operating profit excluding non-trading items was up 16% to £9.8m (2013 – £8.5m). Adjusted pre-tax profit was up 16% at £9.8m (2013 – £8.5m) and after a £1,041,000 (2013 – £354,000) charge for non-trading items, stated pre-tax profit was £8.8m (2013 – £8.2m). Chairman Michael Carlton said: “We have opened 9 (2013 – 7) new restaurants (seven Prezzo and two Chimichanga restaurants) and closed two units in the period. As a result, there were 244 (2013 – 216) units trading at the end of the period, including 200 Prezzo and 37 Chimichanga units. During the period we celebrated our 200th Prezzo opening in York and we have also opened branches in Ripon, Hereford and Milton Keynes. Since the end of the period we have opened one further restaurant and therefore we are currently trading from 245 (2013- 222) restaurants. The pipeline for openings over the next 18 months is well developed and the second half will see openings in Newcastle, Telford and Newquay. By the end of year, we would anticipate having opened approximately 25 new restaurants. We continue to strengthen our infrastructure to support the enlarged business. We are currently undertaking significant investments in IT, both in core finance and other management information systems and we have also made further key appointments to allow us to fully harness the enhanced capabilities these projects will deliver. Cash flow generated from operations was £19.0m (2013 – £11.9m) and after £2.3m (2013 – £2.0m) of corporation tax payments, there was £16.7m (2013 – £10.0m) of free cash available for investment. During the period, the cash outflow on property, plant and equipment was £10.7m (2013 – £13.7m) which covered capital expenditure on the fit out of new restaurants, as well as refurbishment and rebranding projects for the existing estate. (The 2013 total also included the purchase of one freehold property at £1.1m). Overall, there was a net cash inflow of £8.1m (2013 – £2.6m outflow) and at the end of the period we had net cash of £14.0m (2013 – £1.8m), although this was before we settled month-end creditors of c. £7.5m just after the period end, on 30 June 2014. We are comfortable that our strong cash generation will provide us with sufficient flexibility and resources to fund our anticipated expansion plans for the foreseeable future. As in previous years, no interim dividend will be paid. Our sales growth in the first quarter of the year was exceptionally strong and while we have continued to deliver good and steady growth in subsequent months, the overall rate of growth has moderated in the second quarter and beyond. Nevertheless, with a strong set of new openings thus far in 2014, we remain confident of delivering a satisfactory outcome for 2014 as a whole.”