World Cup a bad result for IRG
THE Individual Restaurant Company, owner of the Piccolino, Bank and Bar & Grill Restaurants, saw its pre-tax losses widen to £2.7m (2009: £872,000 loss) as its sales dipped by 2% to £24.6m in the six months to July 4.
The firm, which has outlets in Regency Wharf and Brindleyplace, Birmingham, blamed poor weather at the start of the year and the World Cup for its poorer sales figures, which had a knock-on effect on profits. The firm also said that it had been hit by a £200,000 increase in its costs as a result of changes to the national minimum wage in October 2009.
IRC, which operates 22 Piccolino sites and 11 Restaurant Bar & Grills, added that statutory profits were also hit by a £1.3m writedown in goodwill in the assets of its Restaurant Bar & Grill Glasgow site.
Despite this, chief executive Steven Walker said that the company remained financially strong, particularly as it had paid down £1.4m of its debt pile, finishing the period with net debt of £15m, building £3.5m of headroom on its existing facility.
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Mr Walker also argued that recent trading in the 10 weeks since the period end showed a general growth trend.
“I have been pleased by the return to revenue growth generally experienced over the past five months (excluding the Football World Cup month of June) and I remain confident in the inherent strength of both of our brands,” he said.
“The task now is to find a way that the group can capitalise on this inherent strength, bearing in mind the current funding constraints on expansion capital.”
