Pizza Express turnover up by 6.3%

Pizza Express has announced a turnover of £534.2m for the year, a 6.3% increase on last year’s results.

Like-for-like sales for the group, which exclude new store openings and store closures, also increased, by of 1.4%.

The pizza chain opened 27 new restaurants of their own overseas last year, with several franchises also opening. International sites brought in a like for like sales growth of 8.2% with the chain’s Asian popularity growing fast.

Italian restaurants seem to be among the hardest hit by bad weather in the restaurant sector with EBITDA down 8.9% to £94.6m.

Pizza Express opened 13 new restaurants in the UK last year, and refurbished 25 of its current UK stores. The picture paints a stark contrast to that of competitors, with Jamie’s Italian and Prezzo cutting back in order to stay afloat.

Jinlong Wang, CEO and chairman at Pizza Express said: “As expected, the growth in international has been offset by the widely publicised sector cost headwinds in the UK, including higher food prices and wage increases as well as the rise in business rates and commercial rents.”