The business, which also announced it is set to be acquired by Fortress Investment Group for about £350.5m, has opened 17 new sites (16 Lounges and one Cosy Club) within the first half of its financial year (H1 FY25) ended 6 October 2024, and is on track to open 35 more sites this year.
Loungers, which operates all-day café-bar-restaurants sites under the Lounge, Cosy Club and Brightside brands, said it hopes to be running 292 sites in total by the end of FY25.
Continued to trade well
Revenue rose to £178.3m in the 24-week period from £149.6m in H1 FY24, reflecting a like-for-like (lfl) sales growth of 4.7% while adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached £29.8m, up from £23.9m.
Operating profit had a 31.8% uplift from £7.8m to £10.2m while profit before tax shot up 51.3% from £3.9m to £6.0m.
On current trade, the business said it has continued to trade well during the first seven weeks of the third quarter of FY25 with lfl sales growth of 3.9%, which was 5.1% over the first six weeks to 17 November (excluding last week’s trading that was impacted by Storm Bert).
It added a further seven sites (six Lounges and one Brightside) have opened post the 6 October half-year end.
Prices will rise
Meanwhile, the business will be able to absorb the increases in employers’ national insurance contributions announced in the recent Budget while continuing to improve its margins, “albeit prices will rise more than we had previously anticipated”.
Loungers CEO Collins said: “The first half of the year has been another period of excellent progress for Loungers, with revenue up 19.2% and adjusted EBITDA up 25.0%.
“We opened 17 new sites and are on track to finish FY25 with 292 sites across all three brands. As ever, the performance is testament to the quality and flexibility of our all-day offering, the hard work and professionalism of our teams, and the ongoing resilience of the UK consumer.”
