Clapham House Group to raise £3.3m for Gourmet Burger Kitchen expansion
Clapham House Group has revealed plans to raise £2.2m from a cash placing to fund the rollout of its Gourmet Burger Kitchen brand for the next two years.
The group said that rents in the UK restaurant sector had fallen in comparison to the pre-recession period and that this provided it with the opportunity to “step up the opening programme”.
The company, which also operates The Real Greek, said it intended to raise the funds via the placing of 3,730,000 shares at 60p per share.
Paul Campbell, Clapham’s chief executive, said: "We slowed our expansion programme over the last two years during the recession. We chose our new sites carefully during this period and will continue to do so. Recent openings have demonstrated good returns on capital and we are therefore now looking to accelerate our GBK openings.”
He added: “We have already identified a number of locations which we believe have good potential for FY 2011 and 2012. This will drive the continuing growth of GBK, as well as creating employment opportunities within the company.
“This fundraising will facilitate the expansion of the GBK business whilst maintaining headroom in our banking facilities."
Managing costs
The company added that increased opening programme was expected to be adjusted PBT neutral in the year ending March 2011, “given the likely timing of the openings”, it said - and then PBT enhancing in the year ending March 2012.
The group will also be moving to a smaller head office in a bid to cut costs.
Martyn Leek is news editor of BigHospitality sister title M&C Report.
