Pizza Express has surpassed £100m of brand retail sales for the first time as overall full-year group revenues rose 9.5%.
The restaurant chain and food brand saw turnover rise to £427.7m in the year to 28 June from £390.6m in the previous year.
Almost a quarter of these sales came from the group’s growing retail brand – which hit sales of more than £100m through supermarkets during the year.
Pizza Express did not split out detailed financials on its retail sales, but said revenues in the division were “well ahead of prior year” despite the challenging sector backdrop.
Chief executive Richard Hodgson commented: “We grew retail market share across all four of our product areas, namely pizza, bread, dressings and pasta. We were thrilled that Pizza Express House Light dressing became the best-selling salad dressing in the UK and we became a £100 million retail brand for the first time, featuring in the top 100 grocery brands.”
Overall, Pizza Express say like for like sales growth of 5.6% while EBITDA was 12.9% up to £100.2m.
During the year it opened 19 new restaurants in the UK and 11 internationally, including eight in China.
The results mark its first full year of trading following its acquisition by Hony Capital in 2014.
Hodgson added: ““We have made a positive start to the year with the core business trading well. We also have a strong pipeline of new sites, both in the UK and internationally. Overall, we remain excited by the future growth opportunities for Pizza Express.”
No comments yet