Clapham House Group, the listed operator of Gourmet Burger Kitchen, has warned that profits to March 2008 will fall “significantly below” expectations.
The group, led by executive chairman David Page, said that delays to site openings and poor trading at Tootsies had hit original forecasts.
Clapham will unveil interim results on Wednesday (5 December, 2007), which will show adjusted profit before tax of £1.5m.
It also said it had paired back future opening plans because of rising rents, rising food costs and an uncertain economic outlook. It will now open 18 restaurants in the year to March 2009, of which 13 will be in the UK and five will be overseas.
The company said there had been a 12-month delay in the release of sites at the Spitalfields development in London, where the company plans to open Gourmet Burger Kitchen and The Real Greek restaurants. The delay to these restaurants would shave £0.5m from profits in the current year.
Clapham also said that a sales shortfall at Tootsies – flagged up in the September statement – had been exacerbated in recent weeks by poor sales at 11 highly profitable Tootsies situated on leisure and retail parks. It said this was due to the poor weather but also to pressure on UK consumer spending.
Higher interest charges would also take a further £0.2m from profits, Clapham said.
Page said: “Despite the current uncertain economic outlook, we remain positive about the medium-term demand trends for the UK eating-out market, Clapham House’s formats and, in particular, the national roll out opportunity for GBK.”
