Nightcap PLC (AIM:NGHT)'s shares are up after the bar owner increased sales by nearly a third for the year through to 2 July.
The bar chain operator increased the number of sites in its portfolio to 46 during the period, up from 31 a year ago, after buying Dirty Martini out of administration, it said in its annual financial statement today.
The owner of The Cocktail Club, the Adventure Bar Group, Barrio Familia and the Dirty Martini bars increased annual revenue 29% to £46.4 million.
The acquisition of Dirty Martini significantly improved its turnover in fiscal 2023. Like-for-like revenue, defined as sales from venues that had traded in the same week a year prior, fell by 12.5%, largely as a result of train strikes.
Even after taking into account the impact of rail strikes on its like-for-like sales, the company’s sales growth is ahead of pre-Covid levels in 2019, it said, but growth is still lagging behind the 23.6% increase in turnover that it recorded in 2022.
The company estimates that it lost £2.9 million in sales and £1.9 million in underlying earnings during strike days.
Underlying earnings were £6.6 million for the year to 2 July, up from £6 million a year earlier.
However, Nightcap reported a loss from operations of £2.8 million for the year to 2 July, compared to a profit of £1.4 million in 2022.
Chairman Gareth Edwards said Nightcap’s focus in the medium term will be on growth. He said the team has identified a number of new sites to expand geographical reach and is searching for potential acquisitions that could add value and strengthen its portfolio.
Trading in the first 13 weeks of the new financial year to October was “adversely impacted” by September’s record warm weather, cost-of-living pressure and train strikes, but, post acquisition, represented a 43% increase in sales compared to last year, according to chief executive Sarah Willingham.
Willingham said: "At Nightcap we believe that everyone deserves a great night out and with this belief at our core, we are fast becoming one of the UK's leading bar groups.
“Whilst trading in October 2023 has continued on the same trend as Q1 FY2024, we are focussing on the important Christmas period. Christmas bookings and enquiries across the whole estate including Dirty Martini are in line with the strong 2022 Christmas period."
Nightcap’s share price has been lumpy this week. Shares were trading at 6.5p this morning, 8% up from 5.77p at close yesterday.