Carluccio’s, the all-day Italian café brand, has reported an 8% rise in turnover for the 12 months to 26 September 2010, driven by the launch of eight new sites during the period, the highest number of openings for the group in a financial year.
The group, which is led by managing director Simon Kossoff, saw turnover grow from £69m in 2009 to £74.4m last year, with EBITDA up 8% during the 12 months to £8.2m, according to accounts filed at Companies House.
The business said the rise in EBITDA demonstrated “the highly cash generative nature” of the company and took place despite the faster opening programme, which saw it incur a cost of £7.3m in capital expenditure in 2010 compared to £4.4m in the previous 12 months.
The group, which was acquired by the Landmark Group, its franchise partner in the Middle East, last September, in a deal that valued the chain at £90.3m, saw pre-tax profit before exceptional items increase to £5.21m, up from £4.66m in 2009.
The company opened stores in Exeter, Cardiff, Bury St Edmunds, Cobham, Kensington, Milton Keynes, Chester and Wimbledon during the period.
Sites in Muswell Hill, Birmingham, Norwich and Leeds have since opened taking the company’s estate to 55. It plans to open at least another five new sites in 2011.
In response to the uncertainty in the economy and the impact of public sector job losses, the company said that its business model was debt free with low average spend per head, which should prove “beneficial in such times”.
New owners Landmark has announced plans to open 25 restaurants under the all-day Italian café brand across the Middle East by 2015.
Carluccio's currently operates four further stores in the region, three in Dubai and one in Qatar. It will open its first restaurant in Kuwait, under the brand at The Avenues, in the next couple of months.
