Sales and profits lifted at Urbium

Late-night bar operator Urbium, owner of Tiger Tiger, lifted sales and profits last year but said market conditions would remain tough this year.

The company, known as Chorion before it demerged last year, said a strong second half of the year helped it to meet expectations. Like-for-like sales rose one per cent.

Chairman John Conlan said: "Our relatively strong performance last year against challenging conditions is mainly due to the strategic positioning of the businesses, which has secured a competitive edge through a well-differentiated operating format.

"We focus mainly on an older, more affluent and less crowded market where we can generally compete on service and quality rather than on price discounting. Our unique combination of bar, restaurant and nightclub, usually trading all day and late night, is ideally suited for this more discerning market."

Urbium opened three large-format Tiger Tigers, in Croydon, Glasgow and Newcastle. The company is currently rolling out a second brand called Digress, a lounge bar concept. But the difficult market had led Urbium to slow its development pipeline until property prices fall further and general economic uncertainty eases, Mr Conlan said.

"The leisure market generally appears to have been slower to recover from the traditional New Year lows than in previous years, but it is too early yet to gauge trends for the year as a whole," said Mr Conlan.

Operating profit was up by 32 per cent to £10.3m and pre-tax profits rose by 139 per cent to £4.3m (2001: £1.8m).

Sales at existing businesses, before exceptional costs, rose by 38 per cent to £59.9m during the year to January, compared to £43.4m in 2001.