Turtle Bay reports record turnover of £93.7m, hails success of introduction of four-day working week: Turtle Bay, the Caribbean restaurant brand backed by Piper, has reported turnover grew 6.1% to a record £93,657,953 for the year ending 31 March 2024 compared with £90,103,059 the year before. Adjusted Ebitda stood at £9.0m (2023: £10.2m). Pre-tax profit was down to £1,861,259 from £9,925,555 the previous year, although that included the beneficial impact of insurance proceeds of £6.4m. The company said the new financial year had started “in line with expectations” and the economic environment “remains extremely tough”. In his report accompanying the accounts, chief executive Nick Crossley stated: “At the beginning of the year, we launched ‘four days at the Bay’, which allowed our entire salaried restaurant team to reduce their number of working days from five to four with no loss of pay. The take-up has been phenomenal and the feedback has been overwhelming. It's widely known that hospitality is one of the hardest working sectors and it's down to us as owners and leaders to challenge this. Four days at the Bay has improved our managers' well-being, performance and retention. More than 90% of our team members said their well-being had improved or stayed constant, 83% said they would recommend it and 77% said they felt more refreshed and thus able to connect with teams and guests better. As a result of this and other initiatives, our stability (team members who have worked with us for more than one year) has improved from 48% to 52% and our team turnover has reduced from 131.5% two years ago to 84.1% this year-end. Unlike many of our competitors, we bounced back quicker and stronger following the pandemic and experienced industry-leading like-for-like growth in our estate with further like-for-like growth the year after. It was always going to be hard against these tough comparatives, as such our like-for-like sales declined by 3.9%. Our sales in the last year continue to outstrip pre-pandemic by 27.7% on a like-for-like basis. Regionally we experienced a stronger performance in the north of England, the south coast area and the south west than we achieved in the Midlands and London. The economic squeeze, brought on by the unprecedented headwinds of high energy costs, double-digit inflation and high interest rates have hurt our key guest base more than others. The fall in disposal income has not been felt evenly across the UK's regions and societies. We introduced non-uniform pricing across our restaurants to better align good value across the communities in which we operate. The Bay Club app has more than 550,000 members (2023: 378,000 members) and we've grown our TikTok views to more than six million (2023: 1.9 million). We also have one of the highest net promoter scores {"NPS") in the sector at 95.” During the year the company invested £8.4m in new and existing sites. Turtle Bay made its Scottish debut with an opening in Glasgow while there were also openings in London's Camden, Blackpool and Lincoln. One lease was surrendered (2023: nil). The company also invested £1.7m in six major refurbishments – in Cardiff, London's Ealing, Exeter, Leeds and Newcastle and also extended its restaurant in Hanover Street in Liverpool. At the year end, the company operated 52 restaurants and said it remains “highly active in exploring opportunities to bring Turtle Bay to more regions of the UK”. Crossley added: “We know from our annual quantitative research, half of the aware nonuser group, a population that has heard of Turtle Bay but has not thus far visited, have not been because they do not live in close proximity to us. This research provides us with the confidence to enter into long leasehold agreements and commit major investment into new sites. Our new location in Glasgow is our first in Scotland and we will seek opportunities to add more sites north of the border.” No dividend was paid (2023: nil).

Diageo delivers resilient performance with improved market share in second half: Diageo delivered a resilient performance, with improved market share in the second half, the company said in its 2024 preliminary results. It reported net sales of $20.3bn, down 1.4% due to an unfavourable foreign exchange impact and organic net sales decline, partially offset by hyperinflation adjustments. Reported operating profit grew 8.2% and reported operating profit margin grew 262bps, primarily due to the positive impact of exceptional operating items partially offset by a decline in organic operating margin. Chief executive Debra Crew said: “While fiscal 24 was a challenging year for both our industry and Diageo, with continued macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility, we focused on taking the actions needed to ensure Diageo is well-positioned for growth as the consumer environment improves. We are confident that when the consumer environment improves, the actions we are taking will return us to growth. Diageo is a resilient business, benefitting from its global reach and unrivalled brand portfolio. With iconic brands that have been enjoyed for decades, Diageo takes a long-term view, and will continue to invest in our brands, people and diversified footprint to deliver sustainable long-term growth and generate shareholder value.”

AG Barr reports first half revenue growth of circa 5%, of which soft drinks growth was circa 7%: AG Barr has reported first half revenue growth of circa 5%, of which soft drinks growth was circa 7%. Revenue for the 26 weeks to 27 July 2024 is expected to be circa £221m (2023/24: £210.4m). The company said the half year trading performance is in line with its expectations. “We remain committed to improving our profit margins which, combined with the forecast revenue growth, will lead to positive earnings momentum for the second half and beyond,” it said. “The outlook for the full year remains unchanged and we are on track to meet FY expectations.” Chief executive Euan Sutherland added: “I am pleased to report overall first half revenue growth of c.5% with soft drinks growth of c.7%, against strong prior year comparatives. The strategic margin rebuild programmes are on plan, guidance on revenue and margin remains unchanged, and we are on track to meet FY expectations. Our four power brands – Irn-Bru, Rubicon, Boost and Funkin – have clear paths to long term growth, supported by strong innovation programmes across all of our portfolio and opportunities to work even more closely to add value to our customers, in all channels. We continue to invest in our supply chain which will deliver tangible benefits as we insource more of our volume, build capacity to support our growth plans, improve resilience and enhance our margins.”

Schultz adds to pressure brewing for his successor at Starbucks: Starbucks’ outspoken quasi-founder Howard Schultz seems to have a caffeine addiction, reports the Financial Times. Schultz has stepped down as chief executive of the world’s largest coffee chain three times. Twice, he’s come back. And recently, he has insisted that his latest year-long stint was his last, telling a podcast last month he has “no desire or intent to return as CEO of Starbucks”. But when its shares fell after reporting a slide in store sales, Schultz, a nearly $2bn shareholder in the company, made his discontent known, first via a public letter on LinkedIn, then on a three-hour-long podcast. “The worst thing that a company can do, like a sports team, is start playing defence because you’re afraid to fail. That is a disease, not unlike another disease which has happened to Starbucks, which is hubris,” he said last month. Now, the Starbucks board of directors is grappling with another big shareholder making their grievances known. Activist investor Elliott has acquired a taste for the coffee chain, taking a sizeable stake in the $85bn company. The investor is privately pushing for representation on its ten-person board, DD’s Maria Heeter and James Fontanella-Khan reported on Friday. The two investors are at opposite sides of the bargaining table. Schultz has made his distaste for a behind-the-scenes agreement with Elliott known to some board members, the FT reported. Schultz and Elliott hadn’t made contact as of last week. Laxman Narasimhan, who took over as chief executive last year after a months-long apprenticeship under Schultz, already has a lot on his hands, with the company’s upcoming earnings set for Tuesday. Now he’ll have to grapple with pleasing both big shareholders: a venti-sized task.