Further to news on 7 March that Carluccio’s called in KPMG to assess its options, reports from The Times state that the firm appears to now be actively seeking a buyout.
The most recent filings show a revenue rise of 2.7% to £140m for the year to 25 September 2016, pre-tax profits for that same period fell a drastic 81% to just £982k for the same period. The group cited exceptional costs as the casue of its faling profits.
A private equity executive, who was approached by KPMG regarding a potential purchase of Carluccio’s, was quoted by Financial Times as saying, 'This is a desperately difficult sector due to higher business rates, wage costs increasing, difficulty to recruit staff in light of EU labour going home, higher food costs [and] overcapacity in the market following the huge number of new restaurant expansions in last three years.'
With casual dining brands, such as Prezzo, Byron, Strada, and Jamie's Italian falling as these types of issues becoming too much to resolve, it paints an extremely challenging picture for chains this year.