Pret A Manger sales rise above £1bn

Pret A Manger rang up £1 billion in sales for the first time last year as it expanded in international markets, with £1 in every £4 now spent outside the UK.
The sandwich chain opened 81 new branches across the world in 2023, of which more than half were outside the UK, in countries including the United States, Canada, India, Greece and Spain.
Its growth in India has been rapid as it opened 15 shops in Mumbai and Delhi within 12 months, while its joint venture with Dallas International has driven sales in the US, particularly New York, where it generates the highest sales after London.
Its growing global footprint contributed to a 22 per cent increase in global sales to £1.1 billion last year, pushing adjusted profits 12 per cent higher to £166 million. It has also led to Pret achieving its 2021 target of doubling the size of the business by 2026 — three years ahead of schedule.
“We set ourselves some tough targets to get Pret going again after the pandemic, and we have delivered,” Pano Christou, its chief executive said. “The fact that £1 in every £4 is now spent outside the UK is both an achievement and an opportunity for our business.”
Momentum has continued, with sales in the opening six months of this year up 10 per cent against the same period of 2023, at £569 million.
Notwithstanding its focus on growing internationally, Pret, which suffered a difficult time during the Covid crisis as lockdowns left urban centres deserted, said the business “remains proudly British-based and British-built”.
In the UK, it has agreed a new partnership to open six new branches in Scotland; it also has ten shops in Ireland. Since January 2023, more than four fifths of the company’s new openings have been outside London.
Pret, which announced in July that it would axe its coffee subscription offer, said it had reduced prices on some of its most popular items, having previously pushed up prices to mitigate rising costs.
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Pret was founded by Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham, who opened their first outlet on Victoria Street in London in 1986. In 2018 it was bought by JAB Holding Company, the conglomerate behind Krispy Kreme donuts, for £1.5 billion, from Bridgepoint. The company now has 690 shops worldwide, operating across 18 markets and employs 12,500 people.
The company also said shareholders had raised £250 million of new capital this month to reduce certain banking facilities and improve liquidity.