Turnover increased from £257.8m the prior year, while gross profit grew from £21.9m to £41.9m. EBITDA more than doubled from £14.3m to £32.1m, with an EBITDA margin of 10.6%.
The group, which includes brands such as ASK Italian, Zizzi, Coco di Mama, Boojum, and Dave’s Hot Chicken, further highlighted its transition from a pure-play restaurant operator to a hospitality investment platform.
Each brand operates autonomously with separate management and boards while leveraging the Azzurri platform’s centralised expertise in procurement, supply chain, data and tech, IT, finance, property and ESG.
During the year, the group delivered continued investment of £21.1m, alongside investing in new businesses.
They include Irish-founded Mexican fast casual chain Boojum, which has so far opened three UK sites in Birmingham, Leeds and Nottingham.
It has also acquired the UK and Ireland master franchise rights for Nashville-style chicken brand Dave’s Hot Chicken.
Dave’s made its London debut with a flagship site on Shaftesbury Avenue earlier this month and has plans to open 60 sites across the UK and Ireland in the coming years.
Azzurri further highlighted continued development of its core estate and offer, with two new Zizzi openings in Chatham and Bridgend alongside one new ASK Italian in Merry Hill.
The year also saw 26 site transformations.
Zizzi grew its loyalty program to nearly one million members, while extending its reach in the grocery channel with its pizza and ready meal range.
Coco di Mama, meanwhile, accelerated its multichannel strategy through expansion in motorway service areas and an extension of its range within Sainsbury’s stores.
Azzurri further delivered the successful incubation of Openr.
Billed as ‘the first data orchestration business for the hospitality sector,’ Openr enables changes across products, menus, venues, pricing, promotions, and digital assets across sites, in real-time, from one place with minimal effort, according to the group.
The technology is currently used by ASK, Zizzi and Coco di Mama, with its first external customer now live too.
On the sustainability front, Azzurri reduced emissions by intensity as well as absolute emissions, as it endeavours to become a net zero business by 2040.
All new sites were built to a gold SKA standard, with a further 7% reduction in scope 1 and 2 emissions across the group.
We’ve had a successful year with the group continuing to grow both sales and profits,” says Steve Holmes, chief executive officer of Azzurri Group.
“It has also been a transformational year for the business strategically as we moved a pure-play restaurant operator into the UK’s leading hospitality investment platform. Our platform enables leading brands to accelerate their growth plans with additional competitive advantages delivered by Azzurri’s centralised expertise.
“We are delighted that Boojum and Dave’s Hot Chicken have joined the group and they provide exciting opportunities for the future.”
More recently, Christmas trading has been ‘encouraging’, with the group ‘cautiously optimistic’ for 2025.
It sees strong organic growth opportunities for both new and existing concepts, with new sites to come from each brand.
“We are cautiously optimistic of an ongoing recovery in hospitality in 2025,” continues Holmes.
“We have strong businesses that will continue to thrive and look forward to another year of positive development.”
