CG Restaurants and Bars, operator of the Dirty Martini and Fire & Stone brands, saw losses widen from £396,000 in 2011 to £1.6m in 2012 despite seeing turnover grow 45% to £12.6m.
Gross margin fell from 55% to 52%. The company said its business, including its existing Fire & Stone brands, traded “in accordance with expectations”.
“The group operates in a highly competitive market. The current economic climate remained challenging with continued pressure on consumer confidence and increases in input costs.
“The rise in the group’s annual turnover was mainly due to new acquisitions in the year. The directors are confident that the new acquisitions will improve the group’s performance in the future.”
Since the year end the group sold two of its restaurants at Spitalfields and Oxford, which contributed 27% of its overall turnover.
“The two restaurants had not traded in line with directors’ expectations and the disposals will help improve the overall business results in the future.”
Initial trading from the new Dirty Martini bar, opened in September 2012, has been “extremely encouraging”, the group said.
