(Alliance News) - XP Factory PLC on Wednesday reported "significant growth" in various key metrics over its latest half year, and expects annual results in line with market forecasts despite consumers facing cost pressures.
The Crawley, England-based entertainment company, which operates under the Boom Battle Bar and Escape Hunt brands, said pretax loss in the first half of 2023 narrowed to GBP2.4 million from GBP3.3 million the year before.
However, overall revenue more than doubled to GBP18.7 million from GBP8.1 million.
In particular, the Boom Battle Bars owner-operated business saw turnover surge up more than fivefold to GBP11.3 million from GBP2.2 million, although franchise activities revenue decreased to GBP1.1 million from GBP1.4 million.
Meanwhile, revenue for the Escape Hunt owner-operated business increased 41% to GBP6.1 million from GBP4.3 million, and franchise revenue increased 17% to GBP282,000. Both brands delivered like for like growth of around 20%.
Site-level earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation also more than doubled to GBP5.0 million from GBP2.2 million. Adjusted Ebitda more than doubled to GBP2.4 million from GBP1.1 million.
XP Factory's gross margin decreased slightly to 62.1% from 62.8%. Its cash balance at June 30 was GBP3.7 million, up from GBP3.2 million at December 31.
XP Factory also said that its first international Boom Battle Bars site, opened in Dubai in late July, was "performing well".
"We are delighted to have delivered such transformational growth compared to the same period in 2022," commented Chief Executive Richard Harpham.
He added: "Performance since the end of June 2023 has been encouraging with both Boom and Escape Hunt delivering strong like for like growth over the summer months...Whilst mindful of ongoing short-term pressures on consumers and the second half weighting of the industry, we remain optimistic for the performance of both businesses over the short and medium term and expect to report full year numbers in line with market expectations."
XP Factory added that "record" pre-bookings for corporate sales gave it further confidence that it can meet expectations for the whole of its financial year, which as announced in early August will end on March 31, 2024.
XP Factory shares were up 1.5% at 16.50 pence in London on Wednesday.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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