Pizza chain’s sales boost fails to satisfy investors

Soaring half-year sales failed to satisfy the appetites of Franco Manca’s shareholders.

Fulham Shore, which owns the pizza chain alongside The real greek, dipped after admitting it was still experiencing a sales slowdown in its London restaurants.

The restaurant developer said volatility in the market and cannibalisation from newer restaurants in nearby locations had hit sales across its branches in the capital’s suburbs – though trading improved slightly on the poor summer period.

However, Fulham Shore toasted a 41pc rise in sales in the six months to September 24, to £27.5m from £19.5m. Profits also nudged up to £ 600,000 from £500,000 thanks to strong trading outside London.

Chairman David Page said: ‘The summer should have been one of the busiest periods of our financial year, and the weak trading across the dining-out market that we also experienced has impacted this year’s overall performance.’

He added: ‘However, revenue from these restaurants have seen slight improvements from the poor summer period of July to September.’

Fulham Shore issued a profit warning in September, claiming trading across its restaurants in the London suburbs had been hit by rising inflation.

at the time, Page said that customers were opting to stay at home rather than eat out, and its London locations – apart from those in central sites and the West End – had suffered as a result.

He also insisted at the time the downturn was a sector-wide issue and evidence of the challenging backdrop that is dogging the restaurant industry.

But Fulham Shore’s investors were unforgiving yesterday, despite the tasty sales, and shares fell 5.3pc, or 0.62p, to 11.12p.

The FTSE 100 finished up 0.6pc, or 42.45 points, at 7490.57 while the FTSE 250 finished down 0.2pc, or 42.34 points, at 20048.61. LED lighting products maker

Luceco was yesterday’s biggest small-cap casualty.

The company, which was the first to invent sockets with ports for USB charging, plunged after warning an accounting error would knock £3.5m off its profits.

it said the error resulted in an incorrect assessment of the value of its stock and as a result its chief financial controller had resigned.

Margins were further hit by the strengthening of the Chinese yuan versus the dollar, alongside the ongoing weakness in the pound and increased costs.

Luceco said it expects profits for the year to the end of December to come in at £13.2m, versus market expectations of £16.7m.

The news knocked about £75m off its value and sent shares plummeting 45pc, or 104.5p, to 128p. outsourcing group Mitie dropped 3.5pc, or 7p, to 192.5p after numis cut its price target to 175p and reaffirmed its reduce rating. retailers Next and Marks &

Spencer also finished lower as shareholders braced themselves for a High Street slowdown.

Both firms were hit by H&M’s unexpected sales fall and further fears that customers were ditching bricks-and-mortar stores for online shopping.

M&S finished down 1.8pc, or 5.5p, at 303.8p while next dropped 2.3pc, or 99p, to 4246p.

Esports group Gfinity edged up 0.5pc, or 0.12p, to 23.12p after announcing a partnership with Microsoft for the forthcoming Halo World Championship gaming tournament in 2018.

also toasting a partnership was mobile phone game maker Gaming Realms.

The firm, which makes bingo and slot games for mobiles, jumped after inking a ten-year deal with Jackpotjoy.

gaming realms shares soared 20.3pc, or 1.5p, to 8.88p.