Pret a Manger has returned to profitability for the first time since 2018.
According to results posted at Companies House, Pret recorded an operating profit of £50.6m in the year to December 2022, having made an operating loss of £225.9m in the previous financial year. This was Pret’s first operating profit since the £19.6m it posted in 2018.
The business did not provide turnover figures for 2022, but said sales for the first half of 2023 grew 20% to £429.9m.
Pret attributed strong early sales to the relaunch of its Club Pret coffee subscription scheme in April 2023, which had led to record sales weeks in May and June.
The scheme gives customers up to five barista-prepared drinks per day. Pret increased the price of the subscription by 20% in light of higher wholesale costs, but expanded it to include a 10% discount across all food products and cold drinks.
Membership grew to 57.9 million globally during 2022, up from a 34.7 million in 2021. On average, transaction size was 30% higher for a Club Pret member than a non-member, it said.
The sandwich chain has been expanding its footprint outside London as it looks to adapt to the shift towards more people hybrid working following the coronavirus pandemic.
A majority (55%) of new shops opened last year were outside the capital, in places including Bishop’s Stortford and Worthing.
In May, Pret opened its first store in Italy, in conjunction with Italian food conglomerate Cremonini Group. It was the seventh new country in which Pret has opened since September 2021, as part of plans to double the size of the business by 2026.
Just over 20% of Pret’s news stores had been opened with franchise partners, with international sales now accounting for 18.9% of revenue, Pret said. There was marginal growth in digital transactions through the Pret app, which saw 42% of transactions during the first half of 2023, up from 40% as of December 2022.
“It’s been three years of transformation at Pret, in which we’ve evolved into a truly global, multichannel brand, and emerged as a stronger business than we were in 2019,” said Pret CEO Pano Christou.
“We’re focused on continuing to grow, while constantly innovating to bring Pret’s freshly made food and organic coffee to brand new places, from Bishop’s Stortford to Bradford and from Italy to India.
“We’re now bringing Pret to even more people thanks to our excellent franchise partners in the UK and around the world. This type of sustainable growth has also given us the confidence to keep investing where it really matters – in our people, with well-deserved pay rises, in our most loyal customers, by expanding our Club Pret subscription, and in helping our local communities via the Pret Foundation.
“Above all, it’s our hard-working team members who deserve the biggest thanks, without whom none of this growth would be possible.”
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