Pret A Manger has announced record financial results for the 52 weeks to 1 January 2015:
- Sales up +16% to £594 million (+9.7% like-for-like)
- EBITDA up +14% to £76 million
- 12% of sales from new product development
- 33 new shops opened, including a first shop in Shanghai
- 526 new jobs created
- £1.5m million raised for charities helping the homeless
Clive Schlee, Chief Executive commented:
“These are a strong set of results and represent another successful year for Pret. With double digit growth achieved in virtually all of our markets, we continued our measured expansion of the business by remaining faithful to our core values and by responding to customer demand for innovative, healthy and hot food. Our Pret Foundation Trust also raised record sums and we distributed 3 million salads and sandwiches to charities for the homeless”.
Operational highlights
Innovation
Pret is committed to serving natural food and organic coffee. It continues to adapt its menu to meet increased demand for both healthy options and hot food on the go, with 12% of total sales coming from products developed in the last year. New products include Macaroni Cheese, introduced in October and now selling 50,000 a week, and Green Goodness juices which now out-perform Pret’s classic Chicken & Avocado sandwich.
During 2014, Pret increased its vegetarian range in the UK to over 40 items. It also recently launched Quinoa Rice Pots and a dairy and gluten-free Five Grain Porridge to extend its range of hot food.
Coffee remains an area of growth for Pret, selling over 1 million cups a week last year.
New Shops
Pret continued to invest in shop expansion last year. During 2014 it opened 33 new shops: 23 in the UK (of which 15 were in London), seven in the US, two in France, and one in Shanghai, its first in China.
The total number of shops at the end of the year was 374, of which 288 are in the UK, 60 in the USA, 14 in Hong Kong, 11 in France and one in China.
Pret has also continued its broader capital investment programme, extending a further six shops, and updating over 40 shops to increase seating areas and reduce the bottlenecks that lead to queues. The company has invested a total of £191 million into its estate over the last five years.
Employment and Training
Pret created 526 new jobs last year across all markets, of which 341 were in the UK. Pret’s Apprenticeship Scheme helped a further 60 homeless people back into work, and its UK School Leavers Programme continued to grow, taking on 28 school leavers in September. Pret also created over 100 weekend jobs in 2014 thanks to its “Bring Back the Saturday Job” campaign.
A new training centre, the Pret Academy, opened in London in 2014 and delivered training courses to over 10,000 delegates.
Charitable Giving
In 2014, the Pret Foundation Trust (PFT) raised a record £1.5m to help support its charity partners and distributed 3 million sandwiches and salads to homeless charities.
PFT donations continued powering Pret’s fleet of vehicles to deliver evening food donations, gave financial aid to over 100 small charities, and gave rough sleepers and ex-offenders the chance to re-join the workforce through Pret’s Apprenticeship Scheme.
Outlook
Pret is confident about its prospects for 2015 and will focus on the quality of its food and service, and the quality and breadth of its estate. In 2015 Pret plans to increase investment in new shop construction and build more shops in all its international markets.
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