Grind back to trading above pre-covid levels as turnover hits record £29.8m, completes further £10m fundraise: Coffee brand Grind has said it is back to trading above pre-covid levels as it revealed it has completed a further £10m fundraise to support its growth. It comes as the group, which operates five cafés, six coffee shops, and three coffee trucks in London, reported revenue increased 38% to a record £29,771,754 for the year ending 30 April 2024 compared with £21,684,040 the previous year. Ebitda loss increased slightly to £3,890,360 from £3,846,417. Pre-tax losses were up to £5,660,896 from £5,313,099. During the period, the company opened further sites in the capital at King’s Cross St Pancras and in Canary Wharf. The group, which employs around 300 staff, closed its Whitechapel outlet while its pop-up sites in Bicester Village in Oxfordshire and Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles came to the end of their one-year terms. In his report accompanying the accounts, founder David Abrahamovitch stated: “Our revenue streams have continued to broaden, and these sales were split roughly 40/40/20 between sales on the high street, online, and through grocers and business-to-business wholesale partners. The high street grew 13% in FY23 and the business is back to trading above pre-pandemic levels despite the increased levels of work from home, and we are confident that this can continue to grow as people slowly come back into the city more often. The online business continues to grow strongly and now consistently delivers monthly sales in excess of £1m. A huge part of its success has been down to partnerships and collaborations with global brands, and the business will continue to drive sales and reach more customers with the new product launches and collaborations planned in the upcoming year. Following the acquisition of Bottleshot Brew at the end of FY23, the business has successfully launched ready to drink coffee cans online and into grocery channels with Tesco and Waitrose, alongside our pod and bean and ground products. We now have listings in 8,000 stocking locations across the UK, including in Tesco, Waitrose, Co-op, Wholefoods and Ocado. The business is investing in growth and marketing activities and has therefore continued to make losses. These losses are in line with management and investor budgets, and the board is confident in its strategy moving forwards. The business raised £5.5m in the financial year and has completed a further £10m funding round after year end. The business is therefore well capitalised and in a strong position to continue to grow in the coming years.” No dividend was paid (2023: nil).

Safestay reports forward bookings up 27% as it sees ‘significant opportunities for growth’: Hostel operator Safestay has reported forward bookings are up 27% and it sees “significant opportunities for growth” with ambitions to double the size of the group’s portfolio in the medium-term. The company said it had forward booking revenue at 1 January 2025 of £4.7m, a 27% increase on the £3.7m in 2023. Safestay stated: “While the macroeconomic and competitive backdrop is expected to remain challenging in the year ahead, forward bookings at 1 January 2025 were up by 27% year on year to £4.7m (2023: £3.7 million). This is supported by further growth in group bookings as well as the improvements the group is making to its marketing capabilities. Safestay continues to invest in its properties, maintaining a controlled capex budget equivalent to 3.0% of annual revenue in 2025. The refurbishment of the recent acquisitions in both Brighton and Budapest is expected to commence before the summer, following receipt of planning approval. Underpinned by our strategic progress and improving operational capabilities, we see significant opportunities for growth and have ambitious plans to double the size of the group’s portfolio in the medium-term. To achieve this, we will continue to actively appraise expansion opportunities across both existing and new markets, including acquisitions as well as less capital-intensive routes to market such as franchising partnerships and management contracts. The board is confident of achieving further strategic progress as well as revenue and adjusted Ebitda growth in 2025.” It comes as the company reported revenue increased 2% to a record £23.0m for the year ending 31 December 2024 (2023: £22.5m). Adjusted Ebitda stood at £6.5m (2023: £6.8m). The group reported a 10% increase in total bed nights to 931,688 (2023: 848,633), 37% of which were booked through direct and non-commissionable channels (2023: 32%). Occupancy rate continued to strengthen to 75.2%, a 3.8% increase (2023: 71.4%). Total revenue per available bed “remained broadly in line year on year” at £18.56 (2023: £18.93) supported by a strategic focus on increasing sales of ancillary services, including food and beverage sales which increased year on year by 26% (2023: 38%). Average bed rate decreased 10% to £21.40 (2023: £23.74) “reflecting market-wide pressures on pricing”. Safestay added four sites to its portfolio – in Costa Blanca and Cordoba in Spain; Brighton in the UK, and Budapest, Hungary. The company opened a new hostel in Edinburgh and returned the lease of its Vienna hotel in August, removing the only loss-making site in its portfolio. At the year end, the company had 20 sites comprising 17 operational locations and three in development (31 December 2023: 17 sites comprising 16 operational and one in development). In January 2024, the group completed a refinancing with HSBC to increase its overall funding capacity and support its long-term growth plans. Existing borrowings refinanced into a single £16m five-year term loan with the addition of a new £2.5m revolving credit facility. Chairman Larry Lipman said: “2024 was a year of important strategic progress for Safestay as we further strengthened our position as one of Europe’s leading hostel operators. We enter 2025 in a strong position as one of the leading international operators in a highly fragmented, sizeable and growing market. In addition to remaining focused on delivering organic growth through our operational initiatives, we will continue to actively evaluate new opportunities where well located, attractive sites become available, including through acquisition and lower capital routes to market where we can leverage our brand, operational capabilities and market understanding. We are very excited about the future for Safestay, which we are confident can create strong shareholder returns by delivering step-change growth in the medium-term.”