Refurbishments drive 6.2% increase in like-for-like sales at Pizza Hut

The Pizza Hut restaurant business in the UK enjoyed a 6.2% increase in like-for-like sales over the past year, driven by its refurbishment and restructuring programme.

The sales growth came during the period from 1 December 2014 to 29 November 2015. The company has now achieved nine quarters of consecutive growth.

Throughout 2015, Pizza Hut Restaurants has refurbished 71 restaurants, with half of the portfolio now complete. The company said that refurbished sites achieved sales growth of between 10% and 40%, depending on the level of investment.

CEO of Pizza Hut Restaurants Jens Hofma said: "This year we have continued our focus on delivering our restructuring programme. Already our refurbished estate has played an instrumental role in our business success. We've seen a mix of new customers and increased spend per head at our restaurants, with each refurbished Hut experiencing significant sales uplift.

Pizza Hut Restaurants recently launched its first ever apprenticeship programme, which offers a range of qualifications from level 1 through to degree level apprenticeships, the latter being a partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University.

Throughout the next year, Pizza Hut Restaurants will refurbish a further 70 sites.

Pizza Hut Restaurants' latest available financial figures, for the year to 30 November 2014, showed a pre-tax profit of £9m, on a turnover of £225.5m.

The restaurant business, which was acquired from Yum! Brands by private equity firm Rutland Partners in October 2012, started its refurbishment programme with its Crawley site in October 2013. Rutland Partners is thought to have invested around £60m in the business.

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