Peyton and Byrne counts cost of early Brighton exits
Restaurant group and concessions business Peyton and Byrne has reported a pre-tax loss of £2.6m for the 12 months to 30 March 2014.
However the company, which achieved a pre-tax profit of £221,909 for the year before, saw turnover increase 22% to £22.8m (2013: 18.7m). EBITDA fell from £1.2m in 2013 to a loss of £124,286.
Peyton and Byrne attributed a large portion of the pre-tax loss to the costs associated with the company's early exit from its £20m contract with Brighton Dome and Brighton Pavilion, according to documents filed at Companies House.
It said: "The business incurred £1.1m of exceptional expenses in the period, which related mainly to the mutually agreed termination of a contract in Brighton in 2014. The majority of these expenses were non-cash items, relating to the impairment of assets purchased in previous periods."
Commenting on the figures, Siobhan Peyton, chief executive of Peyton and Byrne, said that the firm's significant investment in its senior team form part of its "ambitious" expanion plans.
"We've invested quite heavily back into the business, including in an executive team of a very high calibre," she told The Caterer.
"We've got quite ambitious growth plans and we have to move the nature of the senior team away from Oliver and myself. Robyn Bidgood has joined us from Smart Group, Gavin Gooddy has come from Rhubarb, Alison Taffs has made a massive difference to the business as HR director and our finance director Paul Deeming came from Hakkasan. You have to invest to grow.
"All of our businesses are trading financially successfully now and they're very mature. The Royal Parks, the Wallace Collection and the British Library have all recently been extended."
She added that the company's latest figures indicate a more positive performance from the business: "The results for the year just ended, March 2015, are significantly improved, with a pre-exceptional EBITDA of approximately £1m; and the year to March 2016 is budgeted to improve further, to over £1.5m."
Peyton and Byrne also said that it had made significant investments in the business during the period, with the Business Growth Fund (BGF) committing a further £1.6m to the company's expansion plans. It previously secured £6.25m from the BGF at the end of 2012.
The company review also said: "The directors are pleased with the progress that has been made in the business, including two new openings that occurred in 2014: two eight-year contracts at the Imperial War Museum and a Peyton and Byrne retail bakery in Greenwich.
"Additionally the company has secured three new public catering contracts (subject to contract) for the years 2015 and 2016, adding additional turnover circa £7m."
Peyton and Byrne also opened a new bakery and café in London's Hammersmith, by the Lyric theatre, this week.
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