Patisserie Holdings notches up 10th consecutive year of revenue and profit growth

Patisserie Holdings, which owns the Patisserie Valerie brand, reported an 18% rise in pre-tax profit for the year to the end of September as revenue grew and the company said it saw little or no impact on sales from the Brexit vote.

Statutory pre-tax profit increased to £17.2m from £14.6m the year before on revenue of £104.1m, up 13.3%. Online sales grew 23% to £3.8m. This marked the company’s 10th consecutive year of revenue and profit growth.

Basic earnings per share rose 20.4% to 13.74p and Patisserie declared a final dividend of 2.00 per share, up from 1.67p the year before.

Patisserie said afternoon teas, which it launched last year, are becoming one of its most successful offerings. It sold 133,000 afternoon teas in the year, generating sales of £2.3m compared to £1.2m in 2015.

The company said it opened 21 new stores in the year, all funded from operating cash flow including flagship stores in Belfast, Birmingham Resorts World and Oxford Street in London.

Patisserie said the cost base remained relatively stable in the year, but the largest cost pressure was the National Living Wage, which had a full-year impact of £500,000. The company introduced a more efficient labour rostering method in the year which it said almost offset this increase.

Executive chairman Luke Johnson said: “The excellent results for the year show the continuing appeal of our brands, the financial strength of the group and the strong cash generative nature of our business model. We have achieved growth in revenues and profits despite uncertain economic conditions and for the first time we have exceeded revenues of £100m: a significant achievement.

“Our roll-out programme continues to deliver successful store openings and I am particularly pleased with the performance of our first store in Northern Ireland. Our strategy remains that of organic growth; however we are well positioned to make acquisitions should any suitable opportunities arise. Performance for the first eight weeks of the year has been encouraging and we have already opened six new stores. We have a strong pipeline for the year ahead with a number of promising locations already secured.”

At 1058 GMT, the shares were up 7.1% to 276.00p.