Patisserie Holdings half-year profit up 14%, looking out for acquisitions

Café and casual dining group Patisserie Holdings posted a 14% jump in first-half pre-tax profit on Tuesday as revenue rose and the company said it is well placed to make strategic acquisitions should appropriate opportunities arise.

In the six months to the end of March, pre-tax profit rose to £11.1m from £9.7m on revenue of £60.5m, up 9.1% from the same period a year ago. Revenue from its biggest brand, Patisserie Valerie, was up 13.2% to £45.8m, but revenue from the company's other brands was down 2.6% to £14.7m due to a store closure in the previous year.

Basic earnings per share increased 13% to 8.98p and the interim dividend was lifted by 20% to 1.44p a share.

Patisserie said the period started well with a good build-up to Christmas with its new festive range, including the limited edition Reindeer slice, selling well. Although sales took a bit of a hit from the 'Beast from the East', the group said it was able to limit the impact on profit and finished the period strongly with a record Mother's Day weekend and a good lead-up to Easter.

The group said labour inflation now has the biggest impact on profit, with the national minimum wage, the national living wage and the apprenticeship levy costing an additional £300,000 in the period.

Patisserie successfully opened 10 new stores to date and said it's on track to deliver the annual target of 20 openings.

Executive chairman Luke Johnson said: "The group has delivered a strong set of results in a sector which has well documented challenges. Our vertically integrated and flexible business model enables us to deliver consistent profits with our affordable treats remaining popular with our very diverse customer base.

"We remain focused on organic growth and with a strong balance sheet continue to assess acquisition opportunities which will have a strategic and cultural fit."

At 1335 BST, the shares were up 0.2% to 434p.