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Transformation
Aids Restaurant Group |
The
Restaurant Group, which owns the Frankie & Benny's and
Garfunkel's chains, toasted a year of transformation as it reported a
21pc rise in underlying profits.
The company,
which also owns Chiquito, has sold off most of its high street
restaurants to concentrate on out-of-town leisure parks and airport concessions.
The group sold
its Est Est Est chain in March last year and offloaded Caffe Uno in December.
Alan Jackson,
chairman, said: "This has been a year of considerable
transformation and we have refocused ourselves as a company."
Chief
executive Andrew Page added: "We have moved largely away from
the high street and away from the pizza and pasta market place."
He predicted
that conditions on the high street could become "potentially
even more challenging" as pub companies improve their food
offering ahead of the proposed smoking ban.
The Restaurant
Group, which bought the Blubeckers chain last year, said underlying
profits rose 21pc to £29.5m last year while reported pre-tax
profits rose to £32.1m from £21m in the year.
Total sales
rose to £302.3m from £255.4m the year before. Like-for-like
sales rose 3pc last year and were up 4pc in the first nine weeks of
the new financial year, Mr Page said.
Frankie &
Benny's saw operating profit rise 30pc last year while Chiquito grew
profits by 48pc. Mr Page said leisure parks were continuing to
perform well, adding: "People want to eat out where they can
park safely and not be confronted with lager louts."
Garfunkel's
was affected by the London bombings in July which hampered first half
performance, though business recovered later in the year. Mr Page
said: "Garfunkel's has been absolutely storming in the first
nine weeks of this year."
However, he
added that there had been an increase in costs at the group's airport
concessions, from additional security measures and staff vetting that
was needed.
The group
opened 32 new sites last year and expects to open at least as many
this year. The shares rose 20¾ to 181p.
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