Charterhouse Leisure plans 18 new Coal Bar and Grill sites

Charterhouse Leisure, which trades as Coal Bar and Grill, have revealed plans to open up to 18 new restaurants over the next three years.

The announcement came as the company, managed by James Horler's 3Sixty Restaurants group, reported sales of £8.4m for the 12 months to 28 February 2014.

Restaurant earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) were up 12.5% to £1.4m, while company EBITDA also saw a rise, of 13.2% to £727,000.

Bank debt was reduced by more than 50% throughout the year from strong operating cash flow, the company said, but did not outline what the new debt figure is.

Meanwhile Barclays has agreed additional facilities and investment firms Beringea and Octopus VCT have put in £800,000.

The combined additional funding will support the roll out of the Coal Bar and Grill brand into new locations, including Cheshire Oaks, Gloucester Quays and Swindon, all of which will open during 2014.

Charterhouse is working with Savills London office to secure up to six restaurants per year on successful retail/leisure developments for the next three years.

Commenting on the results, John Gater, founder and chief executive, said: "We have demonstrated our ability to deliver strong returns for a number of years now and I am delighted that our equity and debt partners have committed more funding to increase the number of openings to build a successful casual dining brand on retail/leisure destinations throughout the UK over the next three years."

James Horler, chairman, added: "John and the team at Coal have continued to deliver a very strong trading performance and this has now given everybody confidence that it is the right time to step up the opening programme and accelerate the growth of the brand."