Loungers, the fast-growing cafe/bar restaurant group backed by private equity group Piper, has identified a potential to operate at least another 250 Lounge sites across the UK as it reports a 27.6% rise in full-year EBITDA to £3.14m.
Managing director Alex Reilley also said the Bristol-based company would be “extremely active” in targeting the north west, with three sites in that region already at the legal stage, as it reports a 38% rise in turnover to £15.06m in the 12 months to 30 April.
Loungers ended its financial year with 23 sites and opened its 24th, the Verdo Lounge in Wylde Green, Sutton Coldfield, in May. The group plans to open 10 sites this financial year and Reilley told M&C Report that Loungers is targeting a total of 70 outlets over the next four years.
Reilley said the company has analysed population sizes and demographics and has concluded that there could be “at least another 250 locations in the UK” for the Lounge concept.
“The Lounge model has a massive amount of scale,” he said. “We’ve got the means by which we can accelerate the growth.”
Reilley confirmed that the group is targeting a number of locations in the north west, with two sites in Manchester and one in Liverpool currently “in legals”.
Upcoming openings include the fourth Cosy Club in Salisbury, expected to open in August, while it’s understood that work will soon start on a Lounge in Christchurch, Dorset, following a successful planning appeal at the site.
Its largest site to date, a 7,300 sq ft Cosy Club in Cardiff, is to open in late autumn. Others planned include Lounge sites in Bristol, Portishead and North Somerset and a sixth Cosy Club site in Exeter, which is likely to open early next year.
Reilley said: “We had another very good 12 months with all of the new sites performing very strongly straight from the word go in addition to a strong like-for-like performance from the rest of the group. The figures are particularly pleasing given that half of the new sites didn’t open until the final quarter of the financial year.
“With our private equity partners now in place and with continued strong support from Santander we are now in a position to take the rate we expand the business up a notch. We’ve got a number of great sites lined up to open before the end of 2012 and we’re busy loading up the pipeline for 2013 and beyond.”
Reilley said like-for-like sales since the start of May were up 6.3%, with the company benefiting from the poor weather. “Providing it’s not torrential rain, if it’s grey and fairly overcast that is very good weather for us.”
He added that sales at the sites, which do not screen football, had not been as badly affected as the company thought by Euro 2012.
