Fulham Shore, the Franco Manca and The Real Greek restaurant chain owner, saw interim profits slip to £860,000 from £3.1mln a year ago due to strong headwinds in the restaurant sector.
Revenue grew to £49.9mln from £39.5mln in 2021, indicating the fall in profits was due to margin pressure from significant rises to food costs, soaring energy bills and public transport strikes.
“We continue to operate against an unstable political and economic backdrop, which in turn has impacted consumer confidence and driven up our costs as well as facing significant challenges from the ongoing transportation disruption” said David Page, executive chairman.
Consumer confidence continues to slide, with the latest survey from GfK seeing a fall to -42 in December, a number below 50 indicating a weakening trend.
The London-based company opened 17 new sites in the last 9 months as well as branching into the retail sector offering ‘cook-at-home’ pizzas in over 500 Tesco’s across the UK.
Fulham Shore also announced its £17mln RCF loan facility with HSBC was extended a year to November 2025.
“Our aims over the coming 12 months are to conserve cash for our shareholders, to proceed cautiously, and take advantage of ever-decreasing rents” David Page added.