Franco Manca owner Fulham Shore toasts doubled revenue
The company behind pizza chain Franco Manca and The Real Greek saw its revenues jump 103 per cent in the first six months of its financial year to £39.5m, up from £19.9m a year earlier.
Its half year sales were also 10 per cent ahead of its £36m revenues in the same period in 2019, pre-Covid, despite the fact that it traded for 10 of the 26 weeks to 26 September under some Covid restrictions, which were lifted in July.
Group adjusted EBITDA for the half year jumped to £6.9m, from a loss of £0.1m in the same period a year earlier, and was 38 per cent higher than the same period in 2019, when it stood at £5m.
During the first half, Fulham Shore opened three new restaurants, which accounted for some pre-opening costs of £200,000.
The restaurant company said it would continue its strategy of tightly controlled costs, a “negligible advertising budget”, and a lean budget for restaurant design, so that it could carry on offering lower menu prices than its competitors, which it believes leads to “higher than average customer volumes” in its restaurants.
The group said its Franco Manca loyalty app has been downloaded and used by over 270,000 customers.
Fulham Shore’s net cash position has strengthened to £5.1m, which it said was due to its high customer volumes and cash generation of £8.7m, and was an improvement on its position at the beginning of the financial year, which started with net debt of £3.6m.
Looking ahead, the group said it “looks forward with confidence to the end of our financial year in March 2022, where we expect to be ahead of market
expectations.”
“With strong revenue growth in the Half Year and continued buoyant current trading, Fulham Shore is performing ahead of management’s expectations with many restaurants throughout the UK continuing to break weekly trading records,” said Fulham Shore Chairman David Page.
“This augurs well for the Group’s full year performance, which we expect to be now ahead of market expectations, and our UK wide expansion plans. We have 21 more potential sites in solicitors’ hands across both businesses and look forward with confidence to the continued growth of both of our fantastic restaurant businesses over the coming years.”