Revolution Bars (RBG) is accelerating its new openings schedule, suggesting business is good. The bar owner says it now plans to open six sites a year, compared with a previous estimate of five. During the first half of the financial year, it already added four new premises to its portfolio, taking the total estate to 66 sites. Of that, 53 fall under the Revolution fascia and 13 under Revolución de Cuba. These new sites come at a price, however, with a whopping 183 per cent rise in one-off opening costs resulting in flat operating profits of £4.7m.
New bars aside, underlying trading is strong. The group reported a solid 2 per cent improvement in like-for-like sales during the opening half year, thanks in part to a particularly good Christmas trading period. This, along with the contribution from new openings, allowed adjusted pre-tax profits to jump by a tenth during the period to £5.5m.