Market Halls to open two to three venues a year
The Gees Court Partners-backed company, which has announced its results for the 12 months to July 2023, says it will target cities including Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Liverpool, Leeds, Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Market Halls reports revenue growth of 155% from £8.6mto £22m during the period and says that while the increase is in part attributable to Covid-related soft trading in the previous financial year, “it also demonstrates strong underlying growth”, with like-for-like sales up 40%.
It also reports “an impressive start to the new financial year”, achieving consecutive record trading weeks and like-for-like sales growth in the first four trading weeks of 38%.
EBITDA before HQ costs grew to £2.6m.
The company operates three venues in London in Victoria, Oxford Street and it newest site in Canary Wharf, which it says has annualised sales of £11m.
“To have seen the popularity of our venues surge despite the tough economic environment is testament to the strength of the Market Halls proposition. Our model is built to be resilient and it’s heartening to see the hard work of our teams paying off in numbers like these,” says Andy Lewis-Pratt, CEO of Market Halls.
“With the momentum we built through FY22 and FY23 and the exceptionally strong start to FY24, we are confident in our ability to keep growing and becoming increasingly profitable as we work towards our goal of becoming the UK’s largest food hall operator.”
Future expansion will come through pursuing a combination of developing new venues and acquiring existing businesses in what the company describes as ‘a market ripe for consolidation’.
“Now that we have three great venues demonstrating solid unit economics and cash flow, we are looking forward to building an exciting line up of new venues and potential partnerships with independent food halls across the UK,” says Esat Kolege, founding partner at Gees Court.
