TLC Inns reports strong December, on track to hit £1.5m of Ebitda: Pub and restaurant operator TLC Inns, the operator of pubs and the Grand Central US grill concept, has reported overall sales up 8.5% in December after a ‘relatively slow start’. Steve Haslam, who owns the business with wife Jo Haslam, told propel: “The ‘big Friday’ was amazing with our new Ipswich site recording its highest daily sales. Records also fell on Christmas Day with a £22,000 day at one site and overall sales reaching their highest level. All sites finished with positive figures with two more established sites producing excellent gains. Quarter Three results are pending but with positive sales growth for the year and fantastic December figures to finish the period we expect Ebitda to reach just short of £1.2 million (with) our target of £1.5 million at year-end March 2016. With our most high profile Grand Central due to open in the Spring and further sites planned in 2016, we are looking forward to another great year. We will be looking to appoint some key people into positions to strengthen our growth plans. We believe Grand Central will be the growth driver as large pub sites still remain difficult to acquire in our area. We will look to open Grand Central in several higher profile areas to further its potential. Funding for our latest Grand Central comes from Barclays Corporate which has remained the company’s only source of debt. We remain fully focused on, not only growth, but controlling all costs in the face of the imminent rise in wages and other costs this year. We believe margins could be tested but, given the hard work of our HQ team, savings have been made to, hopefully, negate this. Funding key appointments and other routes are being discussed in order that growth can remain strong regardless of the route taken.” 

Coaching Inn Group reports record December, 10.7% up on like-for-likes, record net sales of more than £1.5m: Coaching Inn Group, the operator of nine coaching inns led by Kevin Charity, has reported a record December. Finance director Edward Walsh stated: “December proved to be an excellent month for the company with net sales coming in 7% above budget and 10.7% above last year on a like-for-like basis. We set a number of sales records for the group, achieving over £1.5m net sales in the period at an average of £34,000 per week per site. Pleasingly, we saw really strong performances at all sites that have seen significant investment this year with the Royal Oak, Welshpool and White Hart, Boston up 33% and 17% on last year respectively. The Three Swans, Market Harborough also hit record levels for month averaging £60,000 weekly net sales through the Christmas period and up 6% versus last year. As expected, New Year’s Eve was the strongest day over the period with net sales beating £90,000 over the day – averaging £10,000 a site. Christmas Party nights also proved popular with net sales beating £85,000 for the group on both the two Saturdays prior to the Christmas week.”

Oakman Inns and Restaurants reports ‘fantastic’ Christmas: Oakman Inns and Restaurants, led by Peter Borg-Neal, has reported a ‘fantastic’ Christmas trading period. Borg-Neal told Propel: “There is a still a day of trading left to the end of our four week trading period (Period nine of our financial year) so will have the exact like-for-like numbers tomorrow. As of today they stand at 11.8% growth. The acquisitions have also performed superbly well with The White Hart in Ampthill, The Kings Head in Ongar and The Navigation Inn, Cosgrove delivering some great trading numbers. We had enjoyed strong sales growth throughout the first two periods of Quarter Three and we’re absolutely delighted to have carried that momentum into the vitally important Christmas trading period.”