Caffè Nero sales almost hitting pre-Covid levels despite Omicron dent
Coffee chain Caffè Nero has said its sales have returned to more than 90 per cent of pre-Covid levels.
The firm reported trading for its half-year to November 2021, as well as annual results for the financial year ended May 2021.
While the mergence of the Omicron Covid variant saw office workers working from home, Caffè Nero reported trade of 82 per cent of normal trading in December and January.
For the first half of its current financial year, the chain posted sales of £135.7m, an increase of 211 per cent for the same period in 2020.
It marked a “notable and encouraging increase” in some of its new sales channel. Its delivery business via Uber Eats generated £3.4m revenue.
During the 2021 financial year, UK sales sunk 36 per cent on the year prior, from £239.7m to £153.3m.
The chain pointed to government Covid restrictions which mandated shops to close or have capacity restrictions. The group generated a loss of £16.6m for the year.
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.”