Fall in Carluccio’s losses before franchise buyback

Carluccio’s restaurant in Dublin, saw its accumulated losses fall by €2.96 million in the last year of operation as an Irish- owned franchise.

Accounts filed by its operator, Carluccio's Ireland Ltd, for the year ended September 30th, 2009, show its accumulated losses fell from €3.3 million to €373,295 in 2013.

There was a significant fall in its reserves during this period, from €3.8 million to €523,393. Short-term creditors also rose from €760,782 to €1.26 million, with trade creditors rising from €384,698 to €1.05 million.

The accounts cover the final period of the Irish franchise, before it was bought back by the international restaurant group. The entire share capital of the Irish investors was purchased by Carluccio’s UK Ltd on October 24th of that year.

The Irish franchise had been held by a group of businessmen including former KPMG managing partner Ron Bolger and former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Peter Murray.

The restaurant premises on the corner of Dawson Street and Duke Street in Dublin was at the centre of a rent dispute with the building’s owners in 2010. Carluccio’s Ireland originally paid a rent of €680,000 for the four-storey-over-basement building. This did not prove sustainable and the 120- seater restaurant closed for a week before the rent was renegotiated down to its present level of €287,500.

In June the property was offered for sale on behalf of Bank of Ireland as part of a portfolio of highly regarded Dublin properties.

It is valued at €5 million – a long way short of the €12 million believed to have been paid for it by a group of investors assembled by D2 Private at the top of the property boom.