Capital ready to head out of town
Capital Radio is close to securing sites in Birmingham, Southampton and Oxford for its Radio Café concept.
The group, which acquired themed restaurant chain My Kinda Town for £57m last November, saw the restaurant division's sales rise 12% on a like-for-like basis in the four months since the acquisition, as cross-promotion between restaurants and radio began to pay off.
The restaurants contributed £1.2m to the group's operating profits of £17.1m in the six months ended 31 March 1997, despite My Kinda Town's withdrawal from a contract to manage 24 restaurants at a shopping and leisure development in Oberhausen, Germany.
"We were subcontracted to Ready to Roll Restaurants. When they pulled out we had to, too," said chairman Peter Webber.
"I think Capital is very pleased with us," he claimed, saying that further plans to build on cross-promotional opportunities were in the offing.
Capital is currently awaiting approval from the Radio Authority and the Office of Fair Trading on its deal to acquire Virgin Radio for £65m. If the deal goes through, there will be opportunities for My Kinda Town to develop Radio Cafés outside the Capital group's strongholds in the Midlands and the South.
