Fri 27th Nov 2015 - Patisserie Holdings reports 29.2% growth in PBT Patisserie Holdings reports 29.2% growth in PBT: Patisserie Holdings has reported that sales grew 20% to £91.9m in the year to 30 September 2015. Adjusted pre-tax profit grew 29.2% to £14.6m. Online sales grew 20% to £3.1m. The company reported the successful launch of “create-a-cake” and afternoon tea which generated revenue of £0.8m and £1.2m respectively. 26 new stores opened in the last 14 months since the last reporting date all funded from operating cash flows. There were 166 stores at end of year (2014:148) and expansion saw the first designer outlet store, second motorway service station and further rollout across high streets and shopping centres. Philpotts is now fully integrated into the Group and now benefitting from the Group’s purchasing power. 20 new stores are targeted for financial year 2016, including a first store in Belfast and the rollout of the Baker and Spice brand. Executive chairman Luke Johnson said: “We are pleased to announce another record year for the Group where we have delivered excellent financial results. We strengthened our team following our IPO on AIM and have seen the benefits this year with new ideas and products enhancing our brands’ reach. We are well positioned for future organic growth and acquisitions and I am particularly pleased to be able to announce our maiden dividend. Our pipeline for new stores is strong and I am confident of another successful year ahead.” Chief executive Paul May said: “Revenue from our core brand Patisserie Valerie (116 stores) is £62.9m, an increase of £11.8m or 23% (2014: £51.1m). As well as focusing on our store roll-out programme, we have worked hard on the menu development side and have launched a number of new product lines during the year. Of our new products, the most successful single offering has been our new afternoon tea, which has contributed £1.2m in sales in the six months since its introduction. Revenue from online sales increased by £0.5m or 20% to £3.1m (2014: £2.6m). Our online presence continues to grow with our Cake Club now at 306,000 members – a growth of 72% over the past year. Our Facebook followers grew by 136% to 46,800 followers. We re-launched out website in January 2015 which features 360 degree virtual tours of our cafes and a “create-a-cake” feature which allows our customers to design bespoke gateaux. “Create-a-cake” is now our bestselling online product and generated £0.8m of sales since the website re-launch. Our other trading brands continued to perform in line with our expectations. Revenue from Druckers (22 stores), which is predominantly Midlands based and mainly offers a counter service, was up £0.2m to £12.4m (2014: £12.2m). Revenue from Baker and Spice (four stores) is up £0.2m to £4.4m in the year (2014: £4.2m). Baker and Spice was acquired by the Group in 2009 and is our premium brand, located in prime locations in central London. This brand generates the largest revenue per store in the Group and in 2016 we are looking to open our first new Baker and Spice store since its acquisition. Flour Power City is our wholesale artisan bakery which supplies restaurants and markets in and around London. The bakery was acquired in May 2013 and as well as operating a wholesale business the bakery also supplies the group. In February 2014 we acquired Philpotts, a 23 store premium sandwich retailer, for a consideration of £6.3m. Philpotts is now fully integrated into the Group and is operating with a streamlined back office function and is benefiting from the Group’s purchasing power. We have also strengthened the operations team, modified the product range and introduced the café concept to some of the larger stores which has led to improved margins. In the 19 months since acquisition, Philpotts has contributed £1.8m of profit before tax to the Group and is ahead of our payback expectations at the time of acquisition. Our store roll-out programme targets 20 new openings per annum and in the last 14 months we have opened 26 new stores all funded from operating cash flows. Eight new stores have opened in the seven weeks post the year end with a number of these that were on track to open in FY2015, opening a few weeks later than expected due to developer delays in large new developments. The 20 FY2015 stores are located across a mixture of high-streets and shopping centres and operate from a range of different formats, from brasserie (two), full service (13) to counter service (five).”