Steak restaurant chain Hawksmoor has fallen into the red despite its sales passing the £100m mark for the first time.
The London-headquartered business reported a pre-tax loss of £1.6m for 2024, down from the £1.4m pre-tax profit it achieved in 2023.
New accounts filed with Companies House also show its turnover increased over the same period from £89.7m to £100.3m.
No sale agreed for Hawksmoor
A statement signed off by the board said: “With regards to the balance sheet, the material movements in the year relate to fixed asset additions of £7.9m, the majority of which related to the opening of a new site in Chicago, USA, and a movement of the external bank debt from creditors due within one year to creditors due after one year following the refinancing in June 2024.
“Post year-end, Hawksmoor has not signed to open any new locations, however, several further new site locations in both the United States and United Kingdom are under consideration for opening in 2026 and beyond.”
Private equity firm Graphite Capital, which is the majority owner of Hawksmoor, put the chain up for sale in July 2024 but so far no deal has been announced.
Graphite Capital has owned 51 per cent of the chain, which was founded in 2006, since 2013.
Hawksmoor was set up by chief executive Will Beckett and Huw Gott who both own a minority stake.
As well as its seven London restaurants, Hawksmoor has UK locations in Edinburgh, Liverpool and Manchester. It also has a restaurant in Dublin as well as New York and Chicago.
Tommy Robinson incident
Hawksmoor hit the headlines in June when far-right anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, was asked to leave one of its London restaurants after the business said guests and staff felt uncomfortable.
He and four others were told to leave the restaurant, near Piccadilly Circus, and accused it of “discriminatory behaviour” due to his political beliefs.
In a statement released at the time Hawksmoor said: “On Thursday, a public figure was asked to leave one of our restaurants because guests and staff felt uncomfortable and had complained.
“The party left peacefully and politely on request.”
It added it wanted to welcome guests “regardless of background or views” and its team had to deal with a “huge amount of fallout… some of which is quite concerning”.