Patisserie Valerie reports tenth consecutive year of sales and profit growth: Patisserie Valerie has reported its tenth consecutive year of revenue and profit growth with sales up 13.3% to £104.1m (2015: £91.9m) in the 12 months to 30 September 2016. Online sales were up 23% to £3.8m (2015: £3.1m). It reported ‘excellent growth’ in pre-tax profit to £17.2m up 18.2% (2015: £14.6m). Its average store payback period is 23 months. A total of 21 new stores opened in the year all funded from operating cash flows including flagship stores in Belfast, Birmingham Resorts World and Oxford Street in London. Its first store opened in Northern Ireland which has an attached bakery with capacity to support a further ten stores. A new standalone bakery has opened in Edinburgh which will facilitate future expansion in Scotland. It added: “A number of new stores opened in towns and cities which are generally trading ahead of management’s expectations, demonstrating the breadth of appeal of our brands and products. It hads184 stores at end of year (2015:166) and six new stores opened since the year end with a well developed pipeline for 2017. The group continues to target 20 new store openings per annum.” Luke Johnson, executive chairman, said: “The excellent results for the year show the continuing appeal of our brands, the financial strength of the group and the strong cash generative nature of our business model. We have achieved growth in revenues and profits despite uncertain economic conditions and for the first time we have exceeded revenues of £100m: a significant achievement. Our roll-out programme continues to deliver successful store openings and I am particularly pleased with the performance of our first store in Northern Ireland. Our strategy remains that of organic growth; however we are well positioned to make acquisitions should any suitable opportunities arise. Performance for the first eight weeks of the year has been encouraging and we have already opened six new stores. We have a strong pipeline for the year ahead with a number of promising locations already secured. We will continue to control costs and manage our supply chain in this period of macro-economic uncertainty, thus I am confident of another successful year of growth.”

SSP reports sales and profit boost: SSP Group, the operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations worldwide, has reported underlying profit of £121.4m for year ended 30 September 2016.Underlying operating profit was up 18.2% at constant currency, and 24.6% at actual exchange rates. Like-for-like sales were up 3.0%, driven by growth in air passenger travel and retailing initiatives. Revenue was £1,990m, up 5.0% at constant currency; 8.6% at actual exchange rates. Underlying operating margin was up 70 basis points at constant currency to 6.1%. Underlying profit before tax was £107.5m, up 31.1%. Kate Swann, chief executive of SSP Group, said: “SSP has delivered another good performance in 2016 and we continue to make progress on our strategic initiatives. Constant currency operating profit was up 18% driven by good like-for-like sales growth, further operational improvements and higher new contract openings. We continue to develop our presence across the world, particularly in North America and Asia Pacific. The new financial year has started in line with our expectations and whilst a degree of uncertainty always exists around passenger numbers in the short term, we continue to be well placed to benefit from the structural growth opportunities in our markets and our programme of operational improvements.” In its operating review, the company added: “Overall, like-for-like sales in the air sector grew more strongly than in rail, driven by the continued increase in passenger numbers throughout the year. Following the terrorist incidents in France and Belgium in the first half, trading across our UK and Continental European rail operations has remained slightly softer, particularly in the major capital cities. Net contract gains were up 1.7% in the full year, an encouraging increase from last year’s growth of 0.6%. Over the year we saw very strong contributions from North America and the rest of the world, reporting net gains of c. 13% and 14%. New unit openings in Houston, Orlando and Montreal airports in North America, and at Dubai, Beijing and Bangkok’s Don Mueang airports in the Rest of the World have contributed to this strong performance. We continue to focus on retaining profitable contracts and our contract renewal rate in 2016 was in line with our plans and slightly ahead of the historical average. We are encouraged by the pipeline of new contracts. During the year we won a number of significant new contracts, including at airports in Newark, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Bangkok, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Phuket. We expect to begin operating these contracts progressively over the next three years. The strong operating margin improvement of 70 bps reflects the like-for-like sales growth and further encouraging progress on our strategic programmes. This was slightly ahead of our expectations, due to the stronger like-for-like sales growth in the second half and the fact that some expected pre-opening costs will now fall into the new financial year reflecting the slightly later timing of certain new unit openings. We delivered strong free cash flow of £65.0m, after investing £95.9m in capital expenditure, which was a £15.2m increase on the prior year. The increase in capital expenditure reflects the increased number of new units opened in the year and is consistent with the increased net gains of 1.7% The reduction in reported net debt of £2.4m to £317.4m masks a good underlying performance. On a constant currency basis net debt reduced by £41.5m driven by the free cash flow of £65.0m, net of the dividend payment of £22.3m.”

Easyhotel reports sale and profit progress: Easyhotel, the owner, developer, operator and franchisor of “super budget” branded hotels, has reported system sales 6.8% to £21.32m (2015: £19.95m) for the year ended 30 September 2016. Like-for -like sales at owned hotels saw revenue growth of 13%. Profit before tax up 38.4% to £1.09m (2015: 0.79m). Five new owned hotel projects will add 576 rooms by early 2018. There are 951 new franchise rooms currently in the pipeline will increase brand presence without direct capital investment. Guy Parsons, Chief executive officer said: “We are on track to deliver the development plans we announced in September 2016. 2015/2016 was a transformational year for Easyhotel, with excellent operational progress made across the business and a significant acceleration of both our owned and franchise hotel development pipelines. The board remains confident that by exploiting the strength of the brand, Easyhotel will continue to outperform the budget hotel sector as consumers seek out the best value for money. With the experienced team we now have in place and the proceeds of our recent fundraising, we are in an excellent position to expand the Easyhotel brand and deliver improving returns for our shareholders.”

Shaftesbury reports buoyant West End property market: West End property landlord Shaftesbury has reported net property income up £5.3m to £84.1m in the year ended 30 September. It stated: “Footfall and trading in the West End and our locations buoyant. Broad-based occupier demand throughout the year, together with extensive asset management activity, have driven good growth in income and EPRA earnings.” Chief executive Brian Bickell said: “We are pleased to report another year of excellent performance. Against a background of growing caution in property markets, which is beginning to affect some property values, our exceptional portfolio has delivered underlying capital value growth of 4.9%. Whilst London and, at its heart, the West End, cannot be completely immune from the influences of the macro environment, its global city status, exceptionally dynamic and broad-based economy and enduring appeal for domestic and international businesses and visitors, will continue to support its long-term prospects for sustained growth and prosperity. This positive outlook underpins the potential in our portfolio. The exceptional qualities and resilience of our business have delivered long-term sector out-performance. Despite present uncertainties, we are confident our impossible-to-replicate portfolio and the innovative, long-term management we bring to it, will continue this record of delivering sustained growth in total returns for shareholders.” He added: “The buoyant conditions we reported last year in our local market have continued throughout the current year. Although there have been growing concerns of an economic slowdown nationally since the beginning of 2016, the West End continues to prosper, with steadily rising domestic and international visitor numbers and spending and demand from a broad-spectrum of businesses seeking space across all uses. These conditions, and the special appeal of our high-profile and carefully-curated areas, have underwritten the low level of vacancy in our portfolio, and good growth in both current rental income and rental tones, throughout the year. We concluded £27.8 million of leasing transactions, achieving rents for commercial space 7.7% above ERV at the previous year end. This activity converts our portfolio’s reversionary potential into contracted income, whilst at the same time providing valuable rental evidence for growing income, over time, from our adjacent and nearby holdings. Although the outcome of the EU referendum has created uncertainty for business nationally, we have not, so far, seen any adverse impact on occupier demand, footfall or trading in our areas. The recent depreciation in sterling has already added to the spending power of international visitors and, if sustained, may lead to increased visitor numbers above their long-term growth trend. Domestic inflationary pressures, which are expected to increase next year, may impact UK consumer confidence but will be less important for visitors who benefit from a strong local currency. Until future trading and other arrangements with the EU become clearer, there is a risk that business decisions may be deferred, slowing the UK economy, but we expect the West End’s wide appeal and economy will maintain its history of resilience. The recently announced revaluation of business rates across England will increase the levy on business premises in London from next April. Across our portfolio, we anticipate increases in the range 30% to 45%, depending on location. Broadly, we estimate that this will increase tenants’ occupancy costs by c. 2-3% of turnover. The average increases across our streets will be less marked than for some nearby locations and other Central London destinations, increasing the competitive advantage of the more-modestly priced accommodation we offer. Whilst the transitional arrangements for larger premises are not as generous as they have been in the past, we estimate that half of our 584 restaurants, cafes and shops, and three quarters of our offices will qualify for the transition to the new levels to be effected over four years. We support Westminster City Council’s initiative to seek to retain more of the £1.8 billion of business rates they collect on behalf of the Treasury. An increase from the 4% they currently keep would support their ambition to further invest in the borough’s infrastructure, in partnership with property owners and other stakeholders.”