‘Details, details’ and ‘location, location, location’ seem to be the twin maxims at growing bar operator Food & Drink, which blasted forecasts with a sterling performance last year.
Finance director Urvashi Parekh stresses that the company, formerly known as Hartford, micro-manages every bar in its estate down to the finest facet to make them efficient as can be. New operations director Ray McClymont – hardened by 20 years’ experience – has been taken on to maintain this voracious fastidiousness.
Management won’t even look at new locations unless they’re situated in the right location and going for a sensible price, with the potential for high returns on capital, such as the cluster of City bars where customers buy the highest-margin fare. ‘The market is coming down slightly,’ says Parekh, ‘and our restaurant disposals and banking headroom give us the capability when the right sites come up.’
Results for the year to September benefited from the integration of 2005 acquisition Henry J Bean’s, which was tightened up by the new group ethic and served up a 4.9% like-for-like sales increase from the UK managed sites and contributed revenues of £5.2m. Group like-for-likes were up 5.6%, sales swelled 53% to £20.3m, profit before tax and exceptionals mushroomed 204% to £1.3m and earnings rocketed sixfold to 29p. Gearing shrank from 101% to 80% thanks in part to strong cashflow, allowing the group to declare a maiden dividend of 1p per share.
Parekh says attention is increasingly moving toward margin-boosting food and an executive chef has been appointed to squeeze suppliers and tweak the menus. Furthermore, franchising talks for HJB are ramping up but will ‘take time’.
House broker KBC Peel Hunt expects PBT of £1.37m for 2007 with EPS of 24.4p. Recommended by Growth Company Investor at a price equivalent, after a capital reduction, of 132p, the shares have appreciated considerably yet still trade at a healthy discount to the sector. Buy.
Fording Cdn Coal Tr stock quotes
Fording Cdn Coal Tr stock charts
Follow this thread
