Carluccio’s, the Neil Wickers-led group, saw EBITDA climb 5.9% to £14.3m in the 52 weeks to 28 September 2014, despite increased investment in new store pre-opening costs and higher property costs.
Turnover at the company, which opened 16 sites in total during the period, increased by 8.8% to £128.3m.
The group said it remained “highly cash generative” and that trading had continued positively into its new financial year with the opening of five UK stores by end May 2015 and a secure pipeline to deliver a further five openings before the year-end.
It opened 11 new UK and Ireland sites during the year and a further five additional stores opened under franchise in the Middle East and Turkey to take estate size to 101.
The group’s first US restaurant opened on 3 June in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia and is that to have got off to a very strong start.
A second location has been secured in the Pike and Rose development in Bethesda, Maryland and is scheduled to open late 2015.
A second site in Dublin, Ireland opened in March 2015 with a further two locations secured for openings in its next financial year, whilean additional three restaurants opened in Dubai.
Chairman Simon Kossoff said: “Carluccio’s has performed strongly with good growth in turnover and Ebitda as well as achieving the milestone of over 100 stores worldwide. I look forward to reporting progress towards our key long-term objectives during this forthcoming year with further openings in the key markets of the UK, Ireland and US as well as in our franchised territories. I am also delighted that Neil Wickers joined the group in February. Neil’s experience means he is ideally placed to guide Carluccio’s through this next crucial stage of growth.”
