“All day” success, all year round

Loungers has announced record FY24 Sales of £353.5m, up 24.7% and 22.2% excluding the 53^rd week. This exceptional performance was 2.7% ahead of our estimate as FY24 LFL sales growth of 7.5% was maintained into the final 21 weeks, outperforming the industry again. Even more impressively, FY23/FY24 new sites contributed c.15% to revenue growth as Loungers’ unique all-day café-bar model continues to attract new customers nationwide, ranging from coastal towns to mixed use retail / leisure schemes. Sales leverage and easing inflation has led to FY24E Adj. EBITDA ahead of expectations and we raise our FY24 Adj. EBITDA by c.3% to £43.5m (IAS 17 metric).

We recently initiated on Loungers detailing why its profitable model and self-funded growth was undervalued. The 257-site group still has huge scope to grow towards its ambition of over 650 sites, driving 17% CAGR in Revenues, 19% CAGR in Adj. EBITDA and 23% CAGR in Adj. EPS FY23-FY26E.

Whilst Loungers’ share price has rallied 10% in the past month, we maintain our view that this high growth is not reflected in the group’s valuation. We raise our Fair Value to 370p, based on 8.0x our new calendar 2025 EV/Adj. EBITDA.