Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Loungers’ balance sheet ‘strong’ in trading update
CAFé-RESTAURANT chain Loungers has seen a boost in its like-for-like sales growth in its latest trading update.
The company, which was founded in Bristol and also operates the Cosy Club chain, announced an update for the 24 weeks ended October 1, 2023, where the group also opened 16 new sites.
This year the group opened its 200th “Lounge” café bar and last month revealed plans to create more than 1,000 new jobs. Yesterday, the London-listed company announced it delivered one year like-for-like sales growth of 7.7% over the 24week period, representing an acceleration of 5.7% previously reported for the 12 weeks to July 9. Relative to the 24 weeks ended October 6 2019, like-for-like sales were up 25.0%.
Loungers delivered total revenue for H1 FY24 of £149.6m, up 22.3% on the previous year’s £122.3m.
The group added that inflationary pressures continued to diminish in line with its expectations. While nonproperty net debt at October 1 was £14.3m.
During the period Loungers opened 16 new sites taking its full portfolio to 238 sites as of October 1, 2023. One Lounge site has since been opened in the second half, with a further 17 sites scheduled to open, keeping the group on track for its ambitions to open 34 new sites this year.
Nick Collins, chief executive, said: “I am delighted with our strong trading performance across both the mature estate and our new openings.
“Our consistent sales growth reflects the continued evolution of our offer and the resilience of the UK consumer and high street.
“We have now opened 34 sites in the past 12 months, creating around 1,000 jobs in the process, and 72 sites since the last Covid lockdown. With a great pipeline of further openings in front of us I have never felt more optimistic about our prospects. None of this would be possible without our amazing team, and as ever I would like to say a massive thank you to them for their hard work .”
Loungers will next update the market on November 28 with its half-year results.
With a great pipeline of further openings in front of us I have never felt more optimistic about our prospects NICK COLLINS