Charterhouse targets expansion as FY EBITDA grows 13.2%

Sales for the year were £8.4m. Restaurant EBITDA increased 12.5% to £1.4m. Bank debt was reduced by over 50% throughout the year from “strong operating cash flow”, the group said.

Charterhouse, which is chaired by James Horler, revealed that Beringea and Octopus VCT have invested £800,000, in addition to extra facilities from Barclays to support the rollout of the Coal Grill & Bar brand.

Openings for 2014 will be include sites in Cheshire Oaks, Gloucester Quays and Swindon.

The company said it is working with Savills’ London office to secure up to six restaurants per year on successful retail/leisure developments for the next 3 years.

John Gater, founder and chief executive, said: “This is a very exciting time for the business. We have demonstrated our ability to deliver strong returns for a number of years now and I am delighted that our equity and debt partners have committed more funding to increase the number of openings to build a successful casual dining brand on retail/leisure destinations throughout the UK over the next three years.”

Horler said: “John and the team at Coal have continued to deliver a very strong trading performance and this has now given everybody confidence that it is the right time to step up the opening programme and accelerate the growth of the brand.”