Jamie Oliver Holdings has reported a pre-tax loss of £11.1m due to £18m of exceptional costs. These included the writedown of £9.4m arising from the closure of the loss-making JME Group, which was launched to develop a range of kitchen and homeware products, as well as £7.2m lost from closing two of the celebrity chef’s Recipease cookery schools with cafes.
The latest accounts did however also show a rise in turnover at Jamies Italian of 7% in 2014 to £106.9m with underlying earnings up 0.3% to £12.3m in the context of what The Times reported as 'increased competition and heavy discounting by high street brands.'
New Jamie’s Italian openings in 2014 were in London’s Piccadilly, Newcastle and Harrogate, while a second Jamie’s Italian Trattoria launched in Chelmsford, taking the total British portfolio to 39 sites.
The company, which has 39 sites, thinks there’s capacity for 45 to 50 venues in the UK but scope for “many more” Trattorias.