Tasty swings to loss amid cost-of-living crisis

The AIM-traded operator of the Wildwood and Dim T restaurant chains, however, recorded adjusted EBITDA of £2.6m post-IFRS 16, down from £8m in 2021, and a loss after tax of £6.4m, swinging from a profit of £1.2m a year earlier.

Tasty said it had repaid and cancelled its unused Barclays facility of £1.1m, and was now debt-free.

The company reported cash at bank of £7m on 25 December, down from £11m at the end of 2021.

Currently, the company was trading from 52 of its 54 restaurants, and despite staffing and inflationary challenges, like-for-like sales compared with pre-Covid levels were described as encouraging.

“Performance to date is ahead of management expectations although, at this stage, it is difficult to predict the full extent of the cost of living crisis and input cost inflation and shortages,” said chairman Keith Lassman of the firm’s outlook.

“When the current energy cap reduces at the end of March, with advice from our newly-appointed energy brokers, we are adopting a revised strategy to reduce our energy costs.”

Lassman said the board expected customers to continue to patronise Wildwood and Dim T, but added that it would continue to focus on managing its cost base and increasing efficiencies.

“We are living in very unpredictable times, both politically and economically, and these no doubt will continue to be factors in the performance of the group for the coming year.”

At 1249 BST, shares in Tasty were down 11.54% at 2.3p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.