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Richard Caring’s restaurant chain Bills has staged a strong recovery after suffering heavy losses during the pandemic and closing dozens of sites (Bills).
Richard Caring’s restaurant chain Bills has staged a strong recovery after suffering heavy losses during the pandemic and closing dozens of sites.
The company, which grew from a stand-alone greengrocer in Lewes, recorded first half sales of £45.3 million, up 4.5% year-on-year, from its still trading locations.
Underlying earnings of £2.45 million compared to a loss of £0.1 million the previous year, and the business is said to be “beating expectations”.
The company suffered a total loss of £25 million in 2020 and 2021. Managing Director Tom James said: “Despite the backdrop of a challenging trading environment, I am pleased with our performance in the half year with all sites generating higher EBITDA than last year.
“The team has been working incredibly hard to reposition the brand towards the key trends we are seeing including Gen Z, families and the breakfast and lunch business and we have served over 2.67 million people so far this year. is welcomed.
“We have revamped the website so that guests experience a seamless booking journey, resulting in a 22% increase in website traffic and bookings over the last year and the business is now in a strong position for future growth and focused expansion “
Richard Caring said: “The figures speak for themselves that the Bill is back on track.
It comes as the extent of pressure on food and drink makers due to rising costs was exposed today, with industry data showing the number of companies in financial trouble has more than doubled. By the end of June of the year, the number of companies entering bankruptcy in this sector increased by 108%, reaching 287.
Higher energy costs have increased material costs as well as have a direct impact on the sector, severely affecting profit margins. This made it more difficult for companies to repay loans at a time of rising interest rates. It was even worse for food manufacturers. They accounted for 200 bankruptcies, up from 99 in the previous year.
There were 87 bankrupt beverage companies, up from 39 a year earlier. The figures were disclosed by management consultant Inverto. Its managing director Mohamed Kaiwan said the trend was “almost exclusively driven by demand for price hikes by their suppliers,” adding: “Some of those price hikes have been justified, but a lot of those price hikes has not been justified.”
He advised companies to renegotiate contracts now that inflation is coming down.
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