Fallon & Byrne back in profit as turnover up 19%

Fallon & Byrne, the Dublin food hall, wine bar and restaurant business, bounced back into profit last year as turnover rose 19.2 per cent.

Newly-filed accounts show the group recorded a pretax profit of €119,365 for the 12 months ending June 2015, reversing a €166,432 loss the year before on sales that rose by more than €2 million, from €10.6 million to €12.6 million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) totalled €528,806.

The company said the ebidta figure in the context of the group’s total bank loans at the year-end of €400,000 left the group with a “relatively low level of debt in comparison to its earnings.”

Fallon & Byrne, whose flagship Exchequer Street shop, wine bar and restaurant opened in 2006, established a second operation in The People’s Park, Dun Laoghaire in November 2014. It said there was an 8 per cent increase in like-for-like business during the year under review.

The retailer reported significant improvements in respect of gross margins, resulting in a 4 per cent rise in gross profit to €6.86 million, equivalent to 54 per cent of turnover.

The group reported an 18 per ent rise in administrative costs over the year from €5.4 million to €6.6 million, which it said included a number of once-off restructuring, consultancy and training costs totalling €52,104.

“The directors are fully confident that such expenditure which has already translated into margin efficiencies, will further enhance the profitability of the group in the immediate financial years to follow,” the company said.

Fallon & Byrne reported an unexplained exceptional item of €89,596 during the year under review.

Future prospects

The company said that an improvement in the economy coupled with an improvment in consumer sentiment left them optimistic about Fallon & Byrne’s future prospects.

“The directors’ feel the group is now very well positioned to take advantage of further opportunities for growth and to leverage off the business’s strong brand recognition and reputation for quality,” it said.

Fallon & Byrne is set to be an anchor tenant in the redevelopment of Dollard House, a building on Wellington Quay, Dublin, beside the Clarence Hotel.

The group entered examinership in December 2011, and emerged from the process in April 2012. The firm was unable to pay a €1.4 million tax bill, but was profitable when historic and current tax liabilities were not taken into account, the court was told at the time.