Despite Starbucks UK moving into profit last year, its profit per store is still 15% below rival Costa although its unit sales are 60% higher, according to leading analyst Jamie Rollo at Morgan Stanley.
Rollo said: “Starbucks’ recently filed UK accounts show it moved from a £21m loss in FY13 to £1m EBIT in FY14, which after adding back £27m royalty/licence fees to the parent is £53k per store.
“This was up sharply from £9k the prior year, as it closed unprofitable sites, saw 6% like-fo-like sales growth, and cut labour. However, this is still well below Costa’s £62k EBIT/store, despite Costa’s stores being much smaller.
“Meanwhile Costa grew its UK footprint again and is now over twice Starbucks’ size, and announced another strong year in FY15.”
