Having been through years of expansion, recently filed accounts from Simply Heathcotes Ltd describe 2008 as “a year of focusing on developing the two core brands Heathcotes Collection and the Olive Press.”
The Heathcotes Collection of individual restaurants includes London Road Restaurant & Wine Bar in the village, Paul Heathcote’s award winning flagship restaurant Longridge in the Ribble Valley and Grado Restaurant & Tapas Bar in Manchester City Centre.
During 2008 the group closed two sites at Simply’s Wrightington and Simply’s Manchester and more recently a decision was taken to close the Olive Press in Warrington when the lease expired in March. Despite the closures 2008 saw turnover increase from £8.6m to £8.9m.
However a pre-tax loss of £673,447 for 2008, which is considerably less than the £1,384,075 loss posted in 2007, was filed. Gross profits were £5,863,531, slightly down on £6,083,825 from the previous year, but these were wiped out by administrative costs of £6,717,869.
According to the directors “Like many in the hospitality sector the last 12 months have been extremely challenging as customers reduce their discretionary spend on dining out both for social and business purposes.”
The accounts also state that Paul Heathcotes’ restaurant group Simply Heathcotes have completed a restructuring and refinancing of the business since the end of 2008.
Loan Notes issued by the holding company Heathcotes Restaurants Ltd have been converted in to equity and as a result the debt has been reduced to £3.5 million. In addition, the Heathcote Pension Scheme has advanced the company some funds which are secured against freehold property.
The directors remain confident though that "the continued drive on sales and rationalising costs will lead the company back to profitability over the medium term.”
