Revenues rise at restaurant group D&D London
Restaurant group D&D London, which runs eateries including Orrery (pictured), Skylon and Pont de la Tour, has returned to growth after struggling with a "sharp recession".
The company has reported a 3% increase in turnover for the 12 months to 31 March to £70.4m while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 2% to £6.6m.
D&D London, which was formerly called Conran Restaurants and is still 51% owned by Sir Terence Conran, operates 30 restaurants in London, Paris, Copenhagen, New York and Tokyo.
The group said that during the financial year restaurants where customers spent their own money outperformed those more reliant on corporate spend, which began to recover in the first part of 2010.
Launceston Place, where Tristan Welch is chef-patron, was D&D London's best-performing restaurant, increasing its profits by 25% in the financial year, with Bluebird Café up 13% year on year.
D&D London chairman and chief executive officer Des Gunewardena said the results reflected the beginnings of a recovery from the recession.
"The current financial year has seen a continuation of this recovery and despite the adverse impact of volcanic ash and the World Cup, our underlying sales are running 6% ahead of last year," he said.
However, Gunewardena warned that the coming months could be difficult. "Public expenditure cuts and tax increases will have an adverse impact on revenues and what dent that makes on our overall sales growth will depend on the extent to which the recovery in corporate spend is maintained to offset this," he said.
Gunewardena added that plans were progressing well for the company's first hotel at South Place in the City, which is set to open in summer 2012 and will include 80 bedrooms, meeting and private dining facilities and a rooftop restaurant.
Restaurant group D&D to open its first hotel in London >>
D&D London outlines international push >>
D&D London scraps 12.5% service charge >>
By Kerstin Kühn
E-mail your comments to Kerstin Kühn here.
Caterersearch.com jobs
Looking for a new job? Find your next job here with Caterersearch.com jobs
|
