Thu 5th Apr 2018 - Wahaca reports pre-tax loss of £4.7m following norovirus outbreak but says business has managed to recover Wahaca reports pre-tax loss of £4.7m following norovirus outbreak but says business has managed to recover: Mexican restaurant brand Wahaca has reported a pre-tax loss following the norovirus outbreak that led to nine restaurants being closed but said the business has managed to recover from the aftermath of the event. Turnover increased to £46,557,000 for the year ending 25 June 2017 compared with £46,376,000 the previous year. The company, founded by 2005 MasterChef winner Thomasina Miers and Mark Selby, saw a pre-tax loss of £4,738,000 compared with a profit of £640,000 the year before. The company had net liabilities of £3.2m compared with net assets of £0.8m the previous year while gross profit margin fell to 39.9% compared with 44.5% the year before. In its report accompanying the accounts filed at Companies House, the directors stated: “The variances to the same period last year were impacted predominately as a result of a one-off event in October that forced us to shut a number of our sites on a temporary basis. While this had a significant impact on our trading performance for the financial year relative to the previous year the business has managed to recover from the aftermath of the event. The exceptional costs of £0.7m in the year were predominately as a result of the October event. The group plans to develop growth through the opening of new sites as well as continually driving performance on the existing estate.” Wahaca received an insurance payout of £286,000 during the period. The number of employees increased to 1,061 during the period from 1,008 the previous year. The remuneration of the highest paid director was £129,175 compared with £61,401 the previous year. Wahaca opened its first site in 2007 and currently operates 26 sites in the UK.