MILAN — UK-based coffee chain Caffè Nero reported trading for its half-year to November 2021, as well as annual results for the financial year ended May 2021. The group achieved sales of £135.7m in the six months to November 2021 – an increase of 211% on the same period in 2020, with trade having strengthened further.
Caffè Nero added that its sales were ‘resilient’ during the Omicron period from December 2021 to January 2022 at 82% of ‘normal’ trading compared to FY19. It also said UK trading since January 2022 has recovered to over 90% of its pre-Covid levels.
During the 2021 financial year, UK sales sunk 36% on the year prior, from £239.7m to £153.3m, due to Covid-19 restrictions, which mandated shops to close or operate with reduced capacity. The group generated a loss of £16.6m for the year.
The company marked a “notable and encouraging increase” in some of its new sales channel. Its delivery business via Uber Eats generated £3.4m revenue and a further £1.3m from its Coffee At Home business.
The latter sees Caffè Nero’s products sold via supermarkets, Amazon, and its own website.
These new channels are now on target to generate more than £10m of incremental revenue, which the firm described as “a significant development since the pre-Covid period”.
Caffè Nero founder and group CEO, Gerry Ford commented: “We’ve seen a very encouraging first half of our financial year. Our business showed great resilience and recovery. Further, even with the emergence of the Omicron variant, our sales have held up. We are now trading at 90 per cent of pre- pandemic levels and we expect to see that improve further over the coming weeks and months.”
