Jamie Oliver Holdings reports £11.1m pre-tax loss

Jamie Oliver Holdings has reported a pre-tax loss of £11.1m in its latest accounts, due to £18m of exceptional costs.

The costs included the writedown of £9.4m arising from the closure of the loss-making JME Group, which was launched to develop a range of kitchen and homeware products, as well as £7.2m lost from closing two of the celebrity chef's Recipease cookery schools with cafes.

Without exceptionals, the company had achieved a 14.4% year-on-year increase in pre-tax profit to £7.1m, while annual turnover for the 12 months to 31 December 2014 was up 21.1% to £39.7m.

The house in Primrose Hill owned by Oliver and his wife Jools was previously held on the books of the business but was transferred to the couple directly via a £10m dividend.

The Times: "I felt that wasn't appropriate, so we moved their personal home out of the group."

Accounts for restaurant chain Jamie's Italian revealed a 7% increase in sales to £106.9m. However pre-tax profit fell from £5.6m to £3.9m, as a result of growing restaurant pre-opening costs.

New Jamie's Italian openings in 2014 were in London's Piccadilly, Newcastle and Harrogate, while a second Jamie's Italian Trattoria launched in Chelmsford, taking the total British portfolio to 39 sites.

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