Cote reports 27.2% rise in Ebitda: The Cote restaurant chain has reported that turnover grew by 31% to £84.8m in the year to 27 July 2014. Adjusted Ebitda rose 27.2% to £16.2m. Adjusted Ebitda margin was 19.2%, down by 0.8% on the year before. A total of nine restaurants opened in the year to bring estate size to 52 restaurants. The company said it had 55 restaurants open as of 28 November 2014 with builders on site at a six further locations. Companies House accounts said the company had “positive like-for-likes sales during the period primarily driven by additional cover growth”. New bank loans secured at the time of the management buy-out in September 2013 includes a £15m capital expenditure facility. Pre-tax profit rose to £11.5m from £8.8m the year before. The company added: “With many sites requiring change of use, the expansion during the year has been slower than in previous period. However there are five new openings due (before) Christmas 2014.” The company has 1.866 staff, up from 1,479 the year before. Its bank loan facility has £47.8m outstanding. An amount of £8.1m owed to Richard Caring was settled in full during the period. Meanwhile, a sum of £11.2m owed by Bill’s Stores to Cote was also settled in full. CBPE Capital is Cote’s ultimate controlling party. 

Harris + Hoole reports £11.2m operating loss: Harris + Hoole, the coffee shop business in which Tesco owns a stake, has reported an operating loss of £11.2m in the 52 weeks to 23 February 2014 – the operating loss was £5.4m for the 38 weeks previous. Turnover was £6,648,270, compared to £785,186 in the 38-week period. The company opened 18 shops and closed one in the period, taking site numbers to 30. It stated: “The operating loss reflects the early life cycle stage of a number of the shops open at the end of 52 weeks and also the early development costs of the business.” In August 2014, Harris + Hole announced the closure of six shops in addition to one shop previously announced.

Trophy Soho restaurant freehold sold for £4.348m: The virtual freehold of 68-70 Wardour Street in Soho, central London, home to MasQMenos, the Spanish restaurant concept that operates more than 20 sites around the world, has been acquired by Coffer Corporate Leisure on behalf of London and Strategic Estates for £4.348m. The deal, which reflects a net initial yield of 5%, includes an option to acquire the freehold after the development of the upper parts to provide four New York-style loft apartments. Jack Silvani, at Coffer Corporate Leisure, said: “The property occupies one of the most sought-after leisure pitches in London. The area benefits from a huge volume of footfall, all day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. Our sister company, Davis Coffer Lyons, has been involved in numerous letting transactions nearby and were able to draw upon their unparalleled understanding of the market and demand for this location. This transaction is the latest in a swathe of over a dozen leisure investment deals we have completed within the capital this year. The market is exceptionally buoyant and we would encourage holders of such property to consider their options.” James Millar, of London and Strategic Estates, a subsidiary of the property developer Sapcote Group, said: “This property lies in the very heart of Soho and represented an unmissable opportunity to add to our central London leisure portfolio. When Coffer Corporate Leisure informed us there was an opportunity to acquire the property at a 5% yield we moved swiftly to facilitate a transaction.”

Costa Coffee ranked second fastest-growing non-US foodservice chain: Costa Coffee has been ranked as the second fastest-growing foodservice chain outside the US and Canada in 2013, with growth of 12.15%, behind the Taiwanese chicken restaurant chain Dicos at 31.3% growth over the same period, but ahead of the convenience store chain 7-Eleven with 10.2% growth and the Japanese casual dining chain Gusto with 9.7% growth. Both Dicos and Costa Coffee also posted double-digit gains in their numbers of global outlets, up 27.4% for the Taiwanese chain and 11.2% for the Whitbread-owned coffee operator. The research, by the market research firm Euromonitor International and Nation’s Restaurant News in the US, found that the top 25 foodservice chains based outside the United States and Canada outperformed their much larger American and Canadian competitors in 2013, stealing sales share from them as well. Euromonitor found that in 2013 the top 25 non-US and Canadian chains saw aggregate sales growth of 7.5% to $55.4bn, up from growth of 7% a year earlier. In comparison, the top 25 US or Canada-based chains had an average of 2.9% growth in latest-year global sales, to $267.8bn, a slowdown from growth of 5.3% in the previous year and 8.9% growth two years ago. In the overall rankings of foodservice operators, JD Wetherspoon came a perhaps surprising fifth, with worldwide sales of $1.9bn and sales per unit of $2.2m, behind Dicos and three Japanese convenience store operators, with Costa 11th, on worldwide sales of $1.4bn and estimated sales per unit of $595,000. Nando’s was 18th, with worldwide sales of $1.2bn and estimated sales per unit of $1.3m, and Greggs 21st, with worldwide sales of $1bn and estimated sales per unit of $619,600.