Piccolino operator set for private takeover

The consortium, which initially held a 54 per cent stake in IRC, made an offer of acquisition in April this year. Since then, it has purchased or received acceptances of additional shares, bringing up its total stake in the group to 75.7 per cent

W2D2, which also includes Tarsem Dhaliwal and Paul Dawes, said that as it now controls more than 75 per cent of the firm it will take steps to have all remaining shares de-listed from AIM.

It is urging all remaining shareholders to accept its offer “as soon as possible” as their value is expected to “significantly” decrease once the shares can no longer be traded on AIM.

Both IRC and W2D2 are unable to comment on the news, but it is believed that they will make a formal statement confirming the acquisition within the coming weeks.

IRC performance​

In April this year, IRC reported a fall in overall revenue and profit​ for the year ended 31 December 2010. The group, which runs 33 sites throughout the UK, said that revenue for the year fell by £2m (almost 4 per cent) to £51.3m.

IRC said the fall in revenue and profits was due to certain “one-off factors”, and stressed that both Piccolino and Restaurant Bar & Grill “continue to trade robustly on a national basis”.

In the company’s AGM last week, chairman Robert Breare said IRC had experienced like-for-like sales growth in each of the first three months of 2011.

Breare said: "Encouragingly all of this growth came from increased customer numbers and we have continued to experience like-for-like sales growth in the same way, over the six week period ended 15 May.

However, he added that cost inflation continues to be a challenge moving forward.

"The ability of the group to absorb most, if not all, of these inflationary pressures will depend upon the buoyancy of consumer spending going forward," he said.