Shares jumped in Comptoir Group PLC on Monday after reporting a swing to profit for its recently ended financial year, as the company returned to full operations during the year after being closed under virus-related restrictions.

Shares in the London-based restaurant operator were 49% higher at 8.00 pence on Monday in London.

For the year ended January 2, Comptoir posted a pretax profit of £1.5 million, compared to a £8.1 million loss the year before, on revenue which grew 67% to £20.7 million from £12.4 million.

Comptoir’s sites were closed from January 5, 2021, for indoor dining, but were re-opened in April for outdoor dining and then for indoor dining from May onwards. From this point, the group said trading level were encouraging, with the second half of the year boosted by the increase in staycations, benefiting sites outside of the main tourist and office areas.

The group did not recommend a dividend payment, as it expects that all available funds will be needed to continued meeting working capital requirements.

Looking ahead, Comptoir said its trading to date has risen to a level that it remains confident in its performance compared to pre-Covid levels in 2019, but notes that any growth will be affected by rising costs.

‘We are currently trading from 21 managed restaurants and 4 Franchise sites. The last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic have bought considerable challenges that we have had to deal with, and adapt to, as the circumstances demanded,’ said Non-Executive Chair Richard Kleiner.

‘Since reopening fully in the summer, once eat-in trade was permitted again, the results were highly encouraging and although impacted by the December restrictions, as the Omicron variant took hold, trading remained robust. We are looking forward to continued trading conditions with no government restrictions as customers continue to come back to the hospitality offering, we are so well known for,’ Kleiner added.

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