Reporting your first annual profit is a key turning point for a business - something restaurant company The Fulham Shore (FUL) has just achieved. The purchase of the Franco Manca pizza chain in April last year helped push revenues and profits up markedly. Beforehand, the business comprised almost entirely of The Real Greek restaurant brand, which was just seven sites strong when Fulham took it over back in September 2014.
Fulham was founded in 2012 before floating on Aim in October 2014, and now operates 34 restaurants in total which, besides the two aforementioned chains, also includes Bukowski Grill. That figure includes five Franco Manca sites opened since the end of the reported period, since when the company has also introduced an online takeaway ordering platform. In August, it will trial a delivery service from five sites, in collaboration with Deliveroo. Management aims to continue Franco's expansion beyond its London homeland, with Guildford and Brighton opened post-year end, and outlets also planned for Southampton and Reading.
Although a small business, management has decided to pay all staff, regardless of age, at or above the government's new living wage.
House broker Allenby Capital expects pre-tax profits of £1.5m in the year to March 2017, leading to EPS of 0.21p compared with £0.4m and 0.01p in FY2016.
| THE FULHAM SHORE (FUL) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 19.8p | MARKET VALUE: | £113m | |
| TOUCH: | 19.5-20p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 21p | LOW: 15p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 6.4p* | NET DEBT: | 9% | |
| Year to 27 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 0.5 | -0.15 | -0.2 | nil |
| 2015** | 8.3 | 0.04 | nil† | nil |
| 2016 | 29 | 0.42 | nil† | nil |
| % change | +252 | +958 | - | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na *Includes intangible assets of £28.1m, or 4.9p a share **Nine-month period †Issue of equity during the period results in flat EPS for FY2016 | ||||
