Cannon turns loss into profit at Eldridge Pope

Entrepreneur Michael Cannon made great strides in turning Eldridge Pope​ around in his first year of ownership, the Morning Advertiser has learned.

Companies House records show Eldridge Pope produced a pre-tax profit of £1.1m​ in the year after it was taken private by Cannon. Its previous year as a public company saw a pre-tax loss of £5.3m​.

The main driver of the turn-around was a reduction in the exceptional operating charge from £6.2m in 2004 to £1.3m in 2005.

But like-for-like sales growth burst through the 10% mark at the Eldridge Pope year-end in September 2005. Like-for-likes were in decline at acquisition but grew consistently through the second half of the year​Eldridge Pope spokesman

It was particularly strong on the food side where new menus at 87 venues helped lift revenues by 21%.

The company's bar sales were boosted by the introduction of the Scottish Courage​ brands portfolio in August and September 2005.

A total of £9.1m was spent on 51 investments in the 119-strong managed estate and 13 in the 39-strong tenanted estate.

Investments in the core managed estate has delivered average sales uplifts of 24% and return on investment of 28%.

A total of nine Toad venues have been converted to Que Pasas, producing an average sales uplift of 36%.

Food has been a key element of the Que Pasa offer, with food sales growing from 7% of the sales mix in September 2004 to 17% in September 2005. A total of 27 head-office staff and operations positions were made redundant at a cost of £1.1m.

There has been a net reduction of 16 in the head office and operations headcount after "re-hires". Like-for-like profits in the tenanted division increased year-on-year by 4%.

A spokesman for Eldridge Pope said: "Total estate like-for-likes were in decline at acquisition and in the immediate post-acquisition (period), but grew consistently through the second half of the year and were running at a growth rate of 10% in September 2005. This level of growth has been increased in the year-end."

A further 50 capital projects are scheduled for the year, with the first phase of the investment in the managed estate due to be complete by September 2006.

Overall turnover in the 52 weeks to 1 October 2005 was £61.5m compared to £63.4m the year before.