Gourmet Burger Kitchen recorded losses of £2.6m in first half of 2018

Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) recorded an operating loss of £2.6m in the first half of 2018, parent company Famous Brands has revealed after announcing it was pursuing a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) for the brand.

Famous Brands interim results showed that GBK's like-for-like sales fell by 9.7%. across the six months. In response its South African-based parent company has recognised an impairment of R873.9m (£469.5m).

Darren Hele, Famous Brands CEO, said: "Good progress was achieved in terms of leveraging ongoing remedial measures in the operation. Additional operational opportunities exist and are being explored, including launching a multi-vendor online delivery platform to increase the current offering from one to three vendors, which should enhance GBK's competitiveness in an area in which it has lagged recently."

He continued: "The CVA is designed to promote GBK's long-term financial viability and sustainability. In this regard, the goal will be to reach binding agreements or compromise with GBK's unsecured creditors, which could potentially enable GBK to exit underperforming sites and achieve rental reductions on others, thereby improving the health and profitability of the portfolio and general financial performance of the business."

To proceed with the CVA Famous Brands will need to secure support from 75% of its unsecured creditors.

Famous Brands also owns Wimpy UK, which fared better in the first six months of 2018. The fast food brand saw a 13.6% increase in Sterling revenue.

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