Loungers' turnover passes £90m mark
Café/bar/restaurant group Loungers continued its rapid growth in its last financial year, as its turnover moved past the £90m mark.
The business saw revenues climb from £68.5m to £91.8m in the year to 23 April 2017, representing a 34% rise in net sales.
That was thanks to another 20 site openings, including 16 Lounges and four Cosy Clubs.
Meanwhile, like-for-like growth was 5.3%, up from 2.2% in the prior year.
Like-for-like sales growth for the current year to date (24 weeks to 8 October 2017) was even stronger, up 7.4%.
Underlying EBITDA for the year to 23 April 2017 was also up, from £8.4m to £12.3m. Loungers attributed the 46% increase to strong cost control and the renegotiation of a number of supplier contracts, as well as benefitting from economies of scale.
The company has squeezed the cost of each of its units, reducing it by 8%, and it invested £12.9m of capital expenditure, which was less than in 2016.
Loungers also pointed to the importance of its rent to revenue ratio, which improved to 5.8% from 6% in the prior year.
The company currently has a total of 108 sites and is on track to open a further 24 sites this financial year.
Loungers, now run by chief executive Nick Collins, was founded 15 years ago in Bristol by friends Alex Reilley, Jake Bishop and Dave Reid.
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