Sales slide over after volcanic ash (From The Bolton News)

Sales slide over after volcanic ash

4:53pm Friday 3rd September 2010 in

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GARFUNKELS and Frankie & Benny’s owner The Restaurant Group said it had halted a slide in sales after a hit from the volcanic ash crisis and slower trade during the World Cup.

The firm — which owns more than 40 restaurants in airports and which has branches in Bolton at Eagley Brook Way — was impacted by the air travel problems in the first six months of its year, while the World Cup added to pressure on the rest of its estate.

Interim like-for-like sales fell 0.5 per cent, but it said it had seen more resilient recent trading since then, with like-for-like sales flat in the 35 weeks of the year so far.

Cost-cutting helped the group deliver a 13 per cent hike in underlying pre-tax profits to £24.6 million in the 27 weeks to July 4, or up 10 per cent on a 26-week comparable basis.

This came despite the troubles at its airport eateries, where sales plummeted by around 90 per cent over the week-long ash cloud crisis, knocking more than £500,000 off earnings.