Foundation Inns turnover up 24%
Foundation Inns has seen its annual turnover rise almost 24%, as it put one of its six pubs, the White Horse in Chelmsford, up for sale.
The company, set up by a group of former Whitbread and Spirit managers in 2007, reported a turnover of £2.6m for the year to 27 March 2010.
The figures covered a period during which some of the firm's pubs were not trading - the Village in Walthamstow village was redeveloped and reopened in July 2009. Meanwhile the King's Head and Bell in Abingdon, acquired in 2008, was reopened in November 2009.
Foundation said that same store sales (excluding the King's Head and Bell) were up 12.9%.
The business made a pre-tax loss of almost £540,000, down from £1.75m in the previous year, although managing director Ian Grundy pointed out that the company was EBITDA cash posivitive and that only non-cash items, including an impairment charge, pushed it into a loss.
The majority of the impairment charge of £322,349 was against the company's sole leasehold property, the Glass House in Lincoln, which had "struggled to perform in the face of increased local ‘price driven' competition", according to the director's report filed as part of Foundation's annual accounts. The business said that it was "exploring" a sale of the property, although Grundy pointed out that no decision had yet been made about its future. "Operational changes of emphasis towards more food development, coupled with new management, are showing very positive signs and the site is consideably ahead of EBITDA level in comparison to the same period last year," he said.
Meanwhile, the White Horse in Chelmsford is to be placed on the market for around £400,000. Foundation Inns had planned to sell the freehold property as part of a back-to-back deal when it acquired a package of five freehold pubs in January 2008 but the deal fell through.
Foundation Inns was backed by the Government's Enterprise Investment Scheme and cannot be sold without compromising the tax reliefs it benefits from until November this year at the earliest.
However the firm said its board was "continually reviewing all possibilities for the future".
Foundation Inns adds five pubs to portfolio >>
Former Whitbread and Spirit managers buy first pub >>
By Neil Gerrard
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