LONDON (Alliance News) - Tasty PLC Monday reported growth in revenue and profit in its last financial year after opening seven new restaurants, and said it is progressing with its expansion plans despite difficulty in finding suitable new sites.
The restaurant operator of brands dim t and Wildwood, said pretax profit rose 46% to GBP2.6 million in the year ended December 28, from GBP1.7 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 28% to GBP29.7 million from GBP23 million, interest payable on loans decreased and it also cut administrative expenses.
Seven Wildwood and Wildwood Kitchen restaurants were opened during the year, and a further three restaurants have opened since year end. The group now has 39 restaurants in total and said that a number of other sites are also in the pipeline, although it admitted that the acquisition of suitable and well located quality sites is "proving to be demanding".
Tasty cautioned that while there have been a number of encouraging signs regarding the UK economic outlook, there "still remains a high level of uncertainty".
"Deterioration in consumer confidence due to future economic conditions could have a detrimental impact on the group in terms of footfall and sales. This risk is mitigated by the positioning of the group's brands, which is within the affordable segment of the casual dining market. Continued focus on customer relations and targeted and adaptable marketing initiatives help the group retain and drive sales where footfall declines," Chief Executive Jonny Plant said in a statement.
The company said that is does not recommend payment of a dividend "at this stage of the group's development".
Shares in Tasty were trading up 1% at 139.38 pence Monday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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Tasty (TAST)