Costa Coffee made a loss last year, despite claims that its turnover grew by more than £100m.
The chain, which has around 2,600 cafes in the UK and Northern Ireland and more than 3,900 locations worldwide, posted a pre-tax loss of £9.6m in 2023.
This is a significant drop from the £245,950 profit reported by Costa in 2022.
The Coca-Cola-owned company’s revenue will grow from £1.11 billion in 2022 to £1.22 billion in 2023.
However, Costa attributed the loss to inflationary pressures, including rising energy costs and rising staff wages.
Dividend income from Costa subsidiaries fell from £245m in 2022 to just £1m in 2023.
Despite the bill, in February 2023 the company still paid an £85 million dividend to Coca-Cola’s Irish subsidiary European Refreshments Unlimited Company.
That same month, Costa sold its 142 stores in Poland and Latvia to Lagardère Travel Retail, the region’s master franchisee.
European Refreshments Limited was paid an additional dividend of £80m in April this year.
In the company’s financial statements, CFO Jane Carlin stated the following: “The company continued to invest in new retail stores, renewing existing offices and developing offers.
“Year-on-year revenue growth led to an increase in gross margins; Inflationary pressures on commodity prices, including energy and wage costs, as well as write-downs on investments made in the company’s two subsidiaries, however, led to an operating loss for the year.”
Costa Coffee was founded in 1971 by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa.
Whitbread bought the company in 1995 and later sold it to Coca-Cola for £3.9 billion in 2019.
