Patisserie Holdings, the parent company of Patisserie Valerie, has this morning reported a 23.1% increase in EBITDA to £8.7m for the six months ended 31 March 2015.
The company, which had 156 sites trading across its brands, saw turnover in the period climb 22.2% to £43.7m and pre-tax profit rise 45% to £7m, as it opened 10 new stores all funded from operating cash flow.
Luke Johnson, executive chairman, said: “Trading to date remains encouraging and, with “our premium brands, established management team and a strong pipeline for new stores, I am confident that we will deliver another set of positive results in line with the Board’s expectations at the year end.
“We have delivered another strong set of results in the first half of 2015. Sales across all of the different formats in the group continue to perform well and our brand awareness continues to grow. We have opened 10 new stores since the beginning of the year and trialled several new product launches, such as afternoon tea, all with pleasing results. The group is well placed for a successful second half of the year and beyond.”
Revenue from Patisserie Valerie (106 stores) was £28.9m, up £4.6m or 18.8% (2014: £24.3m).
The company said it launched several new seasonal products in the period, including a winter menu and afternoon tea, which have all helped drive increases in revenues. It also trialled voucher deals via promotional websites which sold “exceptionally well”, and said that due to the strength of its brand, it was able to offer these deals at little or no discount.
It developed a new website which went live in January. The website has new features including 360 degree virtual tours of our cafes and a “create-a-cake” feature which is proving to be very popular.
It said that revenue from its other brands was also encouraging. Druckers (22 stores) and Baker & Spice (four stores) grew from £8.5m in 2014 to £8.7m in 2015, whilst revenue from Flour Power City (one site), its wholesale business, grew from £1.0m in 2014 to £1.1m in 2015.
Revenue from Philpotts (23 stores), the premium sandwich retailer which the company acquired in February 2014, was £5m. In the 12 months since acquisition, it said that the business had performed ahead of expectations and contributed £1.3m of profit before tax to the group and is on track to meet its payback hurdle rate set for acquisitions.
The company said that all 19 stores opened in the prior financial year continue to trade well and a number of these have already paid back the initial capital outlay, well ahead of the 24 month target.
It said that its pipeline for new stores remains healthy and that it had identified and secured or is in advanced discussions to secure new sites to enable it to deliver the 20 store target for the year.
