Town and Country Inns hit by restructuring costs

11-Dec-2012 - Last updated on 12-Dec-2012 at 10:49 GMT

Town & Country Inns, the bar business led by entrepreneur Keith Williams, has reported a loss in the year to 31 May after incurring exceptional costs in relation to a “significant restructuring”.

The Birmingham-based firm, which operates the five-strong Après bar chain, reported a pre-tax loss of £681,887 (2011: pre-tax profit of £22,951) on turnover down 23% to £7m.

Town & Country disposed of three bars and opened one in the period, leading to an exceptional reorganisation cost of £841,022. The company said that, if it wasn’t for these costs, it would have returned a pre-tax profit of £159,135.

Town & Country said that the “significant restructuring” was undertaken “in order to compete with the difficult trading conditions in the sector and the competition in the surrounding marketplace”.

The company reported an operating loss of £176,421 against an operating profit of £543,019 in the previous year. Gross margin in the year was 72% (2011: 71%), and operating margin excluding exceptional costs was 9.7% (2011: 6%).

Town & Country plans to open an “exciting entertainment venue” in Birmingham in early 2013.

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