CCR upbeat after sharp rise in profits

City Centre Restaurants (CCR) said last week that it is beginning to see signs of recovery after a period of losses.

The group reported a sharp rise in pre-tax profits to £5.9m for the half-year to 30 June against a £4m loss for the same period last year. But, taking out last year's exceptional items, pre-tax profit had only marginally improved from £5.7m. Turnover for the period increased by 11.8% to £97.3m.

CCR has continued to dispose of poor-performing restaurants from its Deep Pan Pizza and OK Diner chains. Some are also being converted into other brands such as Caffe Uno and Frankie & Benny's.

The number of Deep Pan Pizza restaurants has been reduced to 70 from 89 and the number of OK Diners has halved to 11.

The biggest growth came from CCR's developing brands including its Est Est Est and Wok Wok chains. Sales for this division increased to £44.4m from £30.9m.

Sales from established restaurants such as Garfunkel's and Chiquitos edged up to £34m from £33.3m.

Chief executive James Naylor said that the outlook for the second half of the year looked "promising".

"We believe City Centre is now in good shape and has excellent prospects," he said.