Debt could force sandwich chain Eat outlets to close

  • Eat’s losses in the year to late June more than doubled to £3.7 million
  • It is facing rising rents, business rates and raw ingredient costs
  • It was revealed earlier this month that KPMG was advising Eat on a restructuring

Sandwich chain Eat, one of the biggest in the country, has fallen deeper into the red amid fears its owner is mulling closures.

Losses in the year to late June more than doubled to £3.7 million, while sales dipped about 2 per cent to £99 million. 

It was revealed earlier this month that accountancy group KPMG was advising Eat on a restructuring, which could include shutting some of its 100 or so outlets.

In the red: Eat faces high have been taken.’ costs and fierce competition

During the financial year the firm’s shareholders swapped £94.5 million of loan notes for shares in the firm to ease financial pressure. 

But Eat, like other firms in the casual dining sector, faces rising rents, business rates and raw ingredient costs, as well as fierce competition.

Figures for Eat’s parent group, Villiers Topco, which is majority-owned by private equity firm Lyceum Capital, showed even higher pre-tax losses of £18.9 million, which include finance costs and interest payments. 

In notes to the accounts, directors insisted ‘2017 was a good year for Eat’. 

They said profit rose 19 per cent to £4.3 million, stripping out one-off payments and debt financing.

A spokesman said: ‘Eat is considering various options but no decisions have been taken.’

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