Loungers, a leading operator of all day café/bar/restaurants across the UK under the Lounge and Cosy Club brands, is pleased to announce its unaudited results for the 24 weeks ended 2nd October 2022:
- The Group’s revenue grew by 53.2% vs H1 of 2020 (the most recent period unimpacted by Covid), to 122.3 million, reflecting three-year like-for-like sales growth of 17%.
- Adjusted EBITDA was £19.3 million (H1 2022: 27.1 million), with the prior year result having benefitted materially from reduced rate of VAT and business rates relief. Adjusted EBITDA grew by 33.4% versus H1 2020.
- IAS17 Adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.0% was down 1.8% on H1 2020, a strong performance against a backdrop of significant inflationary pressure in cost of goods sold and site labour.
Positive momentum has continued over the first eight weeks of Q3, with the business consistently outperforming the sector and achieving strong like-for-like sales growth, with three-year like-for-like sales across the 32 weeks to 27 November of +17.4%.
Whilst there is no sign of the cost of living pressures abating, we remain optimistic looking ahead to trading over the Christmas period.
With 15 sites having opened year to date we remain on track to open a total of 30 new sites during the course of the financial year ending 16th April 2023, including our first Brightside site.
Nick Collins, Chief Executive Officer of Loungers, said: “I am delighted with the consistent strength of our sales performance. Our outperformance of the market has continued unabated and reflects both our unique positioning as well as the amazing hospitality and hard work of our teams. We aren’t immune to the inflationary pressures impacting our sector, but we have worked hard to strike the right balance between growing market share and managing margin pressures. These numbers would suggest we have got the balance about right.
“The short-term outlook is uncertain, but we take confidence from the resilience of current trading in both brands. We are excited about the coming months and are well-placed to take advantage of opportunities through our continued growth. Lounge and Cosy Club both have enormous untapped rollout potential, and we are very excited about the imminent launch of our new roadside brand Brightside.”