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Pret A Manger’s sales surged above £1bn last year as the UK sandwich chain ramped up expansion in international markets.
The company said its global franchise and own store sales in 2023 rose by a fifth to £1.1bn compared with the previous year. Adjusted core profit was £166mn, up 12 per cent on 2022.
Pret, which now operates more than 690 stores of which 30 per cent are outside the UK, also reported a 10 per cent increase in sales to £569mn for the first six months of 2024.
The growth comes as Pret aggressively opens outside the UK, expanding into five new markets including India and Spain in 2023 and further into Cyprus and South Africa this year, adding up to a total of 18 markets.
It had the fastest expansion in India, where it opened 15 stores in Mumbai and Delhi within 12 months, while a new franchise deal with Dallas International completed in February is boosting its presence in the US, it said.
The group also said it hit its 2021 target of doubling the size of the business by 2026 — three years ahead of the schedule.
“We set ourselves some tough targets to get Pret going again after the pandemic, and we have delivered,” said Pret chief executive Pano Christou in a statement.
“The fact that £1 in every £4 is now spent outside the UK is both an achievement and an opportunity for our business,” he said.
Pret said in July it would end its subscription offering of up to five free drinks a day and a 20 per cent discount on food for £30 per month, which was used 63.1mn times globally in 2023 — up from 57.9mn in 2022.
While it said it would charge £10 for a subscription for half-price drinks, changes to the popular offering sparked a backlash among UK consumers.
“Throughout 2023, Pret faced headwinds that have impacted both sales and profitability, such as continued industrial action in the UK and Europe, food inflation and volatility in customer demand driven by the increase of cost of living in general,” it said.
“The business has managed to absorb much of these increased cost pressures. However, in line with the market overall, it has been necessary to increase prices.”