Sports Cafe’s sales fell away during the first half of the year as a lack of major sporting events meant fewer punters visited its bars.
Under the stewardship of new chief executive Peter Marks the chain has been attempting to cut costs and balance the books during the first six months of the year.
The city centre sports bar chain has looked to cut £1m of operational costs from its books in 2007 and has conducted a sale and leaseback of its flagship Birmingham site to reduce its total debt to £9m.
Turnover in the six months ending 30 June slumped to £7.8m from £9.3m this time last year. Pre-tax profit was £767,000 up from £57,000 in the same period a year ago.
Chairman Ian Lenagan said: “The first half of 2007 was a mixed trading period during which there were no major international sporting events, and comparable 2006 sales were boosted by the Football World Cup.
“However, the reduction in the company's gross debt in August 2007 together with the Rugby World Cup during the second half of the year and the Football European Cup at the end of the first half of 2008, provide improved prospects for the remainder of this year and into 2008.”
Sports Cafe added it was targeting several sites for acquisition.
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By Christopher Walton
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