Numbers at pizza restaurant owner Fulham Shore (FUL) are cooking nicely thanks to the popularity of its Franco Manca chain. A steep jump in sales and a close eye on costs fed straight through to the bottom line during the first half, with adjusted operating profit up 41 per cent. The company now boasts 29 pizza restaurants, as well as 12 The Real Greek sites and one Bukowski Grill. This brings the estate total to 42, but site 43 - another Franco Manca - should open in Victoria, London, before the end of the financial year next March.
The company doesn't want to overstuff itself with a growth binge, though. It has opened 13 sites so far this year and wants to focus on sites that are "just about big enough so that we're not paying for space we don't use". Talking of unwanted space, the company now occupies some spare window frontage in a Debenhams store in shopping centre Westfield London. Chairman David Page said he would be looking to build more relationships with retailers and licensed premises with surplus space to fill.
Analysts at Allenby Capital expect pre-tax profit of £1.5m for the year to March 2017, leading to EPS of 0.21p, compared with £0.42m and 0.01p in FY2016.
| FULHAM SHORE (FUL) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 18.5p | MARKET VALUE: | £106m | |
| TOUCH: | 18-19p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 22.8p | LOW: 15p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | na | PE RATIO: | 185 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 6.6p* | NET DEBT: | 8% | |
| Half-year to 25 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 13.9 | 0.19 | 0.0 | na |
| 2016 | 19.9 | 0.80 | 0.1 | na |
| % change | +43 | +329 | - | - |
*Includes intangible assets of £27.5m, or 4.8p a share | ||||
