It was a year of rebound for Groupe Flo, even if it still lived to the rhythm of announcements of confinement, curfew, gauges and introduction of the health pass. Last year, the owner of the Hippopotamus chain and operator of the famous Parisian brasseries La Coupole, Le Vaudeville or Terminus Nord generated revenues amounting to 86.6 million euros, up 21.3% compared to to 2020, almost half of which in the fourth quarter. From 7.6 million euros in 2020, turnover for the last three months of 2021 jumped to 41.5 million. The performance would have been even more impressive if the Omicron variant had not pushed the government to take new measures such as the strengthening of telework or the ban on dancing in restaurants from December 10… This has “ penalized end-of-year events and privatizations “, believes Groupe Flo.
PGE and Solidarity Fund
In order to secure its cash flow, the group requested a new loan guaranteed by the state (PGE) of 19.5 million euros, in addition to that of 35 million negotiated in 2020, and obtained aid for the fixed costs under the Solidarity Fund of 9.6 million. ” The company has obtained a waiver from its lenders regarding its obligation to respect a certain level of leverage ratio as of December 31, 2021 “, adds the management. This is reflected in the balance sheet by an increase in cash at the end of the financial year, to 54.5 million euros, for a net financial debt (total including lease debts under IFRS 16) of 113.1 million and negative equity of almost 9 million euros.
For the current year, the restaurateur does not deliver any forecast, but, the same causes producing the same effects, the activity has, in our opinion, remained reduced at the very beginning of the year, due to the continuation of the sustained practice telework and, above all, the transformation of the health pass into a vaccination pass. On March 14, a clearing appeared with the suspension of the pass, the end of the obligation of the mask and the QR code to enter a restaurant, a bar or a café. Until this is reflected in the accounts, the rebound in activity in 2021 is a welcome breath of fresh air which has allowed Groupe Flo to limit its losses. In one year, its net deficit fell from 17.1 million to 7 million euros.
PC