Hartford Group, the London-based restaurants and bars group that acquired the Jamies chain last year, is cheering after ebitda went into the black for the first time in its five-year history as a public company.
At the same time it said there were signs in recent weeks that market conditions in the City may have started to improve, after an estimated 35,000 job losses in the Square Mile in the past two years.
Hartford's chairman, Stephen Thomas, said: "There are signs that market conditions are beginning to improve in the City." However, the group's chief executive, James Kowszun, said the pick-up was patchy: "Jamies wine bars continued to be exposed to whether the City boys have had a good morning," Kowszun said.
Sales for the enlarged group rose 135% to £7.5m in the 28 weeks to April 12, while ebitda improved by £615,000 to a positive £262,000.
The company's pre-tax loss fell to £400,000 from a loss of £5.2m for the same period last year, while the positive cash flow helped reduced gearing to 23.3%. Stephen Thomas, the company's chairman said that if impairment provisions, goodwill amortisation and the costs of reorganisation were left out, the loss before taxation for the first half had been cut by 68.6% to £249,000, as the overall gross margin rose from 68.6% to 72.4%.
Thomas said the group's drinks margin had been improved by cutting the number of suppliers from nearly 40 to just eight. The group was also now working with a food purchasing agency, which had enabled it to increase control over food costing and sourcing and improve its food margin by 4%. At the same time the City Bars are making food available for longer periods during opening hours.
Central costs were nearly 30% below the combined costs of both the core Hartford operations and the newly integrated Jamies bars last year. A £250,000 refurbishment at Jamies Charlotte Street has seen weekly takings rise from an average of £10,000 to more than £17,000 in May 2003. Thomas said Jamies site managers have been given training to enable them to take financial ownership of the performance of their sites, which has resulted in wages and variable overheads coming down across the group.
• The Centre for Economics and Business Research is due to issue a report this week saying City job losses, which have seen the workforce decline by 11% in the past two years, have bottomed out and bankers expect the return of decent bonuses.
At the same time it said there were signs in recent weeks that market conditions in the City may have started to improve, after an estimated 35,000 job losses in the Square Mile in the past two years.
Hartford's chairman, Stephen Thomas, said: "There are signs that market conditions are beginning to improve in the City." However, the group's chief executive, James Kowszun, said the pick-up was patchy: "Jamies wine bars continued to be exposed to whether the City boys have had a good morning," Kowszun said.
Sales for the enlarged group rose 135% to £7.5m in the 28 weeks to April 12, while ebitda improved by £615,000 to a positive £262,000.
The company's pre-tax loss fell to £400,000 from a loss of £5.2m for the same period last year, while the positive cash flow helped reduced gearing to 23.3%. Stephen Thomas, the company's chairman said that if impairment provisions, goodwill amortisation and the costs of reorganisation were left out, the loss before taxation for the first half had been cut by 68.6% to £249,000, as the overall gross margin rose from 68.6% to 72.4%.
Thomas said the group's drinks margin had been improved by cutting the number of suppliers from nearly 40 to just eight. The group was also now working with a food purchasing agency, which had enabled it to increase control over food costing and sourcing and improve its food margin by 4%. At the same time the City Bars are making food available for longer periods during opening hours.
Central costs were nearly 30% below the combined costs of both the core Hartford operations and the newly integrated Jamies bars last year. A £250,000 refurbishment at Jamies Charlotte Street has seen weekly takings rise from an average of £10,000 to more than £17,000 in May 2003. Thomas said Jamies site managers have been given training to enable them to take financial ownership of the performance of their sites, which has resulted in wages and variable overheads coming down across the group.
• The Centre for Economics and Business Research is due to issue a report this week saying City job losses, which have seen the workforce decline by 11% in the past two years, have bottomed out and bankers expect the return of decent bonuses.
Hartford Group
28 weeks to 12/04/03 | % increase | |
Turnover | £7.52m | 135.3% |
Cost of sales | £2.08m | 106.9% |
Gross profit | £5.44m | 148.2% |
Gross profit percentage | 72.40% | 3.8 %age points |
Raw administrative expenses | -£5.18m | 103.5% |
Ebitda | £262,000 | 174.2% |
Depreciation | -£409,000 | -10.9% |
Total administrative expenses | -£5.74m | -22.7% |
Operating loss | -£296,000 | -94.3% |
