D&D London to open new venture in Turkey
Restaurant group D&D London is to launch its first venture in Turkey, with the opening of a restaurant at Istanbul's Trump Towers next year.
The company, which operates more than 30 restaurants in London, Paris, Copenhagen, New York and Tokyo, has entered a partnership with Turkish operator Borsa Restaurants and local entrepreneur Mehmet Ali Yalcindag.
The new venture, which is set to open in January, will comprise a restaurant with private dining rooms, events spaces and a bar. Set within a 14,000sq ft space within the Trump Towers, a luxury retail, residential and office development in central Istanbul, interiors will be developed by Conran & Partners,
Meanwhile, D&D London, which runs restaurants including Skylon, Plateau and Kensington Place in the capital, has reported a "solid set of results despite a continuing backdrop of economic uncertainty" for the 12 months to 31 March 2012. The company reported a 2.5% increase in turnover to £75.5m, compared with £73.7m last year, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 3% from £6.5m to £6.7m. Revenue at London restaurants that have operated for at least a year grew by 4%.
Des Gunewardena (pictured), chairman and CEO of D&D London, said the results had been achieved despite a significant investment in central management costs as a result of expansion. "In the context of the current economic environment, I am particularly encouraged by the excellent trading performance of our London restaurants during the year," said.
"Most notably we have seen strong growth from Blueprint Café (15%), Sartoria (11%), Bluebird (10%) and Skylon (10%)."
D&D London earlier this month opened its first hotel, South Place Hotel in the City, and today launches its new outlets at the Old Bengal Warehouses, a modern British grill restaurant alongside a cocktail bar, a fish restaurant and a specialist wine shop. Next year the group will open its first venture outside of the capital, with the opening of two restaurants next to the Trinity shopping centre in Leeds.
Gunewardena said: "Looking ahead, I am very optimistic about our prospects for the current financial year and beyond. Our two new London ventures, South Place Hotel and Old Bengal Warehouse, promise to make a significant addition to our portfolio, as will the project we have under way in Leeds, which is part of the only new shopping development in the UK next year."
He added: "Furthermore, our new joint venture partnership in Turkey will mark another exciting step in the selective development of our international ambitions and we look forward to providing an update on this in due course."
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By Kerstin Kühn
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