Loungers upgrades financial expectations following post-Christmas bounce-back

Loungers, the operator of 164 Lounge café bars and 31 Cosy Club restaurant bars, has said it expects profitability for the financial year to be slightly ahead of market expectations in light of the group’s strong performance post-Christmas.

The business announced record sales for the 52 weeks ended 17 April 2022, and although trading during December was subdued by the Omicron variant, it recovered strongly post-Christmas, resulting in record total revenue for the financial year of £237.3m.

Like-for-like sales were up 22.1% over the 48 weeks to 17 April 2022. Net debt at 17 April 2022 was £1.2m, excluding a further £1.4m of outstanding rent liabilities, to give underlying net debt of £2.6m. This represented a reduction in underlying net debt of £44.9m, compared to 18 April 2021.

Over the course of the financial year the company opened a record 27 new sites, comprising 26 Lounges and one Cosy Club, taking the portfolio to 195 sites.

Chief executive Nick Collins said: “I am delighted with trading in both the Lounge and Cosy Club brands over the financial year. We continued to deliver underlying volume-driven like-for-like sales growth despite the uncertain consumer backdrop, and we are well-positioned to increase share in the coming months through our new site opening programme and value for money offer.

"It has been a phenomenal effort from our team to open 27 fantastic new sites in what has at times been a difficult year. The new site pipeline is in excellent shape and we are optimistic as we look ahead to FY23.”