10 December 2008
Interim results for the 6 months ended 28 September 2008
The Clapham House Group PLC (AIM: CPH), owner and operator of Gourmet Burger Kitchen (“GBK”), Tootsies, and The Real Greek (“TRG”), today announces its interim results for the six months ended 28 September 2008, which show continued growth in sales and profits.
Highlights:
• Revenue increased for the six months by 21% to £30.3m (2007 restated: £25.1m) driven by continued organic growth
• EBITDA before restructuring costs increased for the six months by 26% to £3.7m (2007 restated: £3.0m)
• Profit before taxation for the six months increased by 114% to £1.5m (2007 restated: £0.7m)
• Diluted EPS increased for the six months to 2.6p (2007 restated: 1.2p)
• Diluted EPS from continuing and discontinued operations increased for the six months to 2.4p (2007 restated: 0.8p)
• Net debt at 28 September 2008 decreased to £12.1m (2007: £13.3m)
All numbers above shown for continuing operations only, except where indicated.
Operational highlights for the 80 restaurants across the UK and 10 under franchise overseas:
• Focused expansion with 9 UK and 5 overseas openings to date this financial year
• GBK and TRG openings this year particularly strong and immediately profitable
• Banking facilities renewed until June 2012
• Q3 trading to date satisfactory
David Page, Executive Chairman, The Clapham House Group PLC, commented:
“Our interim results demonstrate continuing strong organic growth of our restaurant businesses and we have again reported an increase in sales, EBITDA and profits and a further expansion of our estate.
“It is now more than a year since we recognised that the UK economy was entering an uncertain phase and decided to rationalise our forward restaurant opening programme. We have worked hard for a year on repositioning our pipeline, managing costs and promoting sales, and feel our business is well positioned. Our openings this year have been strong and we have now completed our UK opening programme for the current financial year.
“We have a growing and profitable business, recent trade has continued to be satisfactory, and we remain very positive about the medium-term demand trends for the UK eating out market, the quality of our formats and, in particular, the national roll out scope for GBK. We believe customers will continue to search out value and quality.”