Nightcap hails ‘record’ Q2 results despite rail strikes
Group revenue for the month of December 2022 was £5.9m, a 71.8% increase compared to the £3.4m reported in December 2021
Nightcap has welcomed “record” trading in its latest quarter, with revenues up by 60.9% to £12.9m and like-for-like sales up by 4.7%, despite rail strikes impacting hospitality over the period.
Group revenue for the month of December 2022 was £5.9m, a 71.8% increase compared to the £3.4m reported in December 2021 and a like-for-like increase of 27.6%.
Meanwhile, unaudited group revenues for H1 rose by 49.2% to £23.2m. Revenue for this 26-week period represented a 5.8% like-for-like decrease compared to the equivalent period for FY21, largely due to the rail strikes in the period.
Over the H1 period, Nightcap opened six new sites across three of its key brands, taking its total number of bars to 36. Two The Cocktail Club bars were opened, in Birmingham and Canary Wharf respectively. The group also opened two Tonight Josephine venues in Bristol and Liverpool. Further to that, the period also saw the first two Barrio openings since its acquisition.
Looking ahead, the group said it “looks forward” to the second half of the financial year with “confidence”, and in the absence of further rail strikes or other major interruptions, expects to trade in line with expectations.
Sarah Willingham, CEO of Nightcap, said: “To achieve quarterly growth of 60.9% in revenue and 4.7% growth on a like-for-like basis represents a monumental effort, not least during a time when rail unions deliberately chose a number of the biggest most important weeks and weekends for hospitality, for their series of significant rail strikes, including the incredibly important Christmas weeks.
“During the first half of our current financial year we also successfully opened another six phenomenal bars across the country, while also delivering record breaking amounts of corporate Christmas parties and a New Year’s eve which was sold out across most of our 36 sites.”
She added: “This result is a testament to the resilience of our high disposable income Millennial and Gen Z customers, who continue to enjoy social interactions in a fun party atmosphere in our bars across the country.”
