|
|
|
Tue 9th Jul 2024 - Loungers recent lfl sales up 5% following record year for revenue, profits and site openings |
|
Loungers recent lfl sales up 5% following record year for revenue, profits and site openings: Café bar operator Loungers has reported like-for-like sales are up 5% over past 11 weeks, driven by the performance of new openings, following record revenue, profits and site opening levels in the 53 weeks to 21 April 2024. The company said it is “very positive about the outlook for our brands” and that new site openings continue to perform exceptionally well, achieving record levels of sales, and with a pipeline of further new sites “as strong as ever”. It has opened seven sites since the year end, all of them Lounges, and said the good momentum it is seeing across the business, alongside investment in its operational management, “puts us in the best possible position to deliver further growth and margin expansion in FY25”. It comes after Loungers achieved record revenue of £353.5m for the 53-week period, up 24.7% on the prior year and up 22.2% when excluding the benefit of the 53rd week. A pre-tax profit of £7,334,000 in 2023 grew 56% to a record £11,444,000, while adjusted Ebitda of £59.6m represented year on year growth of 25.9%. A further new landmark was achieved with 36 new sites opening during the year, seven more than in the prior year. Operating profit was up 50 basis points as a percentage of sales to 5.7%, while strong cash generation from operating activities of £64.6m represented 108% of adjusted Ebitda. The company said decreasing inflationary pressures, combined with increasing scale, allowed it to make good progress towards re-establishing pre-covid margins. The record number of new site openings each delivered consistently high sales and profits, while constant food, drink and design innovation continued to drive sales growth and relevance. It invested further in its senior team and operational structure to deliver an ongoing roll-out, with the internal capability to maintain the current rate of openings. Loungers added that its growth and performance continues to demonstrate its target of 665 sites across the UK is a “conservative one”. “This has been another year of outstanding strategic, operational and financial progress for Loungers,” said chief executive Nick Collins. “Our consistent and market-leading like for like sales growth coupled with our improving margins are allowing us to achieve record levels of profits to reinvest in our ambitious roll-out programme. During the year, we opened 36 new sites, created 1,200 new jobs and invested around £39m in high streets and communities across the UK. We have demonstrated yet again that the hospitality sector is capable of making a really positive economic and social impact on parts of the country that are otherwise all-too-often overlooked. To encourage further investment, I would strongly urge the new government to address the wildly unfair tax burden that is shouldered by our industry in the form of a business rates system that urgently needs to be overhauled. The variety, breadth and flexibility of our all-day offer is proving to be more relevant than ever, and last year our wonderful teams served 7m breakfasts and poured 6m pints to an increasingly wide demographic. As the business grows, we are constantly evolving and improving our menus to ensure that we continue to offer our customers the great experience and fantastic value for money that they have come to expect from us. The improving macroeconomic environment, with falling interest rates and declining inflation, adds to our confidence in Loungers’ trading prospects for the coming year. In the longer term, we continue to believe that 665 sites is a conservative target.” Loungers features in the Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book. Its turnover of £353,486,000 for the 53 weeks to 21 April 2024 is the 33rd highest in the database. Its pre-tax profit of £11,444,000 is the 55th highest. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Propel Premium for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier. The single subscription rate is £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription.
Premium Club members to receive two updated databases this week: Premium Club members are to receive two updated databases this week. The updated UK Food & Beverage Franchisee Database will be sent to Premium subscribers tomorrow (Wednesday, 10 July) at midday, featuring ten new entries. The database now has 150 entries and more than 66,000 words of content. Among the new entries are Domino’s franchisees Arham Bros and Monte Laguna, and McDonald’s franchisees Bright Arches and HSL Restaurants. Premium Club members will also receive the next Turnover & Profits Blue Book on Friday (12 July), at midday. It will feature 44 updated accounts and 21 new companies for a total of 947. Of these, 591 are in profit and 349 have reported a loss. Premium Club members also receive access to four other databases: the Multi-Site Database, produced in association with Virgate; the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database; the New Openings Database; and the Who's Who of UK Hospitality. Plus, all Premium Club members will be offered a 20% discount on tickets to Propel paid-for events including Social Media for Profit (18 July), the Talent and Training Conference (1 October) and Restaurant Marketer and Innovator (two days in January 2025). Operators that are Premium Club members are also able to send up to four members of staff to each of our four Multi-Club Conferences for free. Premium Club members receive their daily Propel Info newsletter 11 hours earlier than standard subscribers, at 7pm the evening before. They also receive videos of presentations at eight Propel conference events two weeks after they are held. This represents around 100 videos of industry insight over the course of the year. Premium Club members will be sent a dedicated monthly newsletter that will highlight key updates in the sector and direct subscribers to all the vital content their membership offers. Premium Club members also receive exclusive opinion columns every Friday at 5pm, which include the thoughts of Propel group editor Mark Wingett and a host of industry leaders from across the sector. A Premium Club subscription costs an annual sum of £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or supplier. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.
Dealmaking in UK hotel sector at highest volume in almost a decade: Dealmaking in the UK hotel sector in the first half of the year was at its highest volume in almost a decade, driven by interest from US private equity firms, according to research by Savills. The value of deals in the sector reached an estimated £3.08bn in the six months to June, an increase of 35% compared with the whole of 2023, the real estate group said. It is the highest volume since the same six-month period in 2015, when volumes totalled £3.61bn, and 5% above the pre-pandemic five-year average of the first half-year, reports the Financial Times. “The increase in volumes marks a turning point for hotel activity and investor confidence,” said Tim Stoyle, head of UK Hotels at Savills. Robert Stapleton, head of UK hotel capital markets, said along with “reasonable confidence in investors”, there has also been “pressure to deploy capital and expectations of interest rate cuts”. He expects the volume of deals to exceed £5bn this year even though interest rates are unlikely to return to where they were three years ago. “Assets that remain well invested and operationally efficient will continue to do well,” he added. Private equity groups under pressure to use capital raised soon after the pandemic are driving dealmaking. Blackstone last month acquired Village Hotels, which operates in more than 30 locations, from KSL Capital Partners for a deal believed to be worth about £780m. In January, Starwood Capital acquired a portfolio of ten hotels from Edwardian Hotels for a reported £800m. Hotel transactions involving multiple assets accounted for two-thirds of the latest half-year total volume, Stapleton said, as big deals have been attracting more interest from private equity investors who seek to “get money out the door”. M&A in the UK hotel industry over the past two years had been dominated by small deals, amid the economic headwind of interest rate increases. However, hotels have emerged as one of the few bright spots in the commercial real estate market, largely due to their ability to combat rising costs with increasing room rates. Pent-up travel demand has also made hoteliers confident enough to significantly increase prices for customers. One senior executive of a hotel asset management company said the ability of hoteliers to raise room rates had “given a false sense of the true value of their assets” and resulted in an unwillingness among sellers to exit at a discount. Buyers, meanwhile, have been unwilling to buy at overinflated prices. But increasing operational costs, from energy to food prices, have kept hoteliers under pressure. RSM UK said last month that labour costs per available room were up from £15.32 in March to £16.62 in April, or £20.65 to £22.16 in London, hitting the bottom line of UK hotels.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
