CONRAN HOLDINGS, Sir Terence Conran’s restaurant and retail empire, will report a strong end to the year today after what it admitted had been “an up-and-down 2005”.
Its recently launched restaurant and bars at the Royal Exchange, in the City of London, are said to have done particularly well over Christmas, contributing to a 9 per cent rise in like-for-like sales for Conran Restaurants in December.
Des Gunewardena, the company’s chief executive, described turnover in its City eateries as “rock solid”, adding: “The mood in the City was good, though the upturn was across the board. We had a terrifically good Christmas.”
He said that its two Conran Shops in London, like the restaurants, had struggled after the July bombings, although in December like-for-like sales were up 9 per cent. For the financial year to March, Conran was “in pretty decent shape compared to last year”.