26th Sep 2014 08:08
LONDON (Alliance News) - Restaurant Group Richoux Group PLC Friday said it has decided to scale back its Villagio restaurant brand and close a number of underperforming sites, as it reported a drop in profit for the first-half.
The owner of Dean's Diner, Richoux, Villagio and Zippers restaurants, posted pretax GBP159,000 for the six months to July 13, down from GBP451,000 a year earlier, even though revenue rose to GBP6.7 million from GBP5.8 million.
The usual strong performance of the Richoux restaurants has been affected by scaffolding at the flagship Piccadilly restaurant where revenue fell almost 15% on the comparable period last year, the company said. The company said trading at the site is however, expected to recover to usual levels shortly.
Richoux also said it has now decided to scale back Villagio and it has disposed of the two underperforming Villagio restaurants in Chiswick and Berkhamsted.
Conversely, trading across the the Richoux, Dean's Diner and retained Villagio portfolios has been positive and it is planning to build on this with five openings for each of the next two years, said the company.
Additionally, Richoux is for the first time in recent years, developing a pipeline of property sites not only for Dean's Diner but also for the Richoux brand.
"We have already exchanged on one new Dean's Diner site in Bromley and are in advanced negotiations on three further Dean's Diner sites," the company said. It is also in advanced negotiations on a Richoux site in Central London which is likely to open in 2015.
Looking ahead, the company said there are ground for optimism regarding growth, having streamlined the Villagio portfolio and adding to the Richoux estate.
"The group is endeavouring at the same to time to work on and further improve the Dean's Diner brand as we come to understand more the market in which that format is operating and its customers' requirements and expectations," said Chairman Philip Shotter.
Shares in Richoux were untraded shortly after the market open Friday, quoted at 21.00 pence per share.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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