Harry Ramsden’s owner disposes of more Deep Blue restaurants, current trading ‘robust’ as it secures major supermarket licensing deal: Deep Blue Restaurants – owner of the Deep Blue, Harry Ramsden’s and Fish & Chips @ 149 brands – has disposed of more of its Deep Blue branded restaurants. It has also secured a major UK supermarket licensing deal alongside £5.6m in new debt funding as it reported current trading is “robust”, with Harry Ramsden’s driving its growth. The company announced in December that it had begun a strategic disposal programme as it focuses on the growth of Harry Ramsden’s – at which point it had already sold four of its eponymous sites. In its accounts for the year to 24 September 2024, the company said that between October 2024 and May 2025, it sold nine Deep Blue sites as part of its strategic disposal programme. The company’s seperate website now list 15 Deep Blue locations and eight Harry Ramsden’s. It went on to say that between October 2024 and February 2025, the company secured debt funding to the value of £5.57m. Shareholder convertible loan notes of £1.3m were also converted to fully paid ordinary shares on 24 April 2025. Furthermore, the company said it “has recently signed heads of terms on a significant licencing agreement with a major UK supermarket, which will generate substantial cash inflows and profits within the forecast period”. It comes as Deep Blue Restaurants narrowed its losses in the year to 24 September 2024. A pre-tax loss of £3,637,634 in 2023 decreased to a loss of £2,226,913. Costs were reduced from £8,409,502 to £7,037,909 and administration expenses fell from £19,666,432 to £16,852,606. The company’s Ebitda grew from £2.1m to £2.2m and its revenue was down from £25,370,235 to £22,880,136. Of this, £21,989,887 came from food and drink (2023: £24,395,396) and £890,249 from franchise and licensing (2023: £974,839). Further analysis shows that £22,805,630 came from the UK (2023: £25,284,472) and £74,506 from Asia (2023: £85,763). Exceptional items included a £100,398 loss on disposal of assets (2023: £8,602). A £625,000 bank loan with Barclays (2023: £1,820,015) was fully repaid post year-end. A loan note to Amber REI Holdings amounting to nil (2023: €1,500,000) was redeemed in full in August 2024, and a loan of £918,000 (2023: €918,000) from Facet Capital was replaced by a new agreement in November 2024. No dividends were paid (2023: nil). Chief executive James Fleming, who only took on the role in May after replacing James Low, said: “As in prior years, global events, the cost-of-living crisis and food cost inflation continued to present headwinds to trading in the first three quarters of FY2025. Despite this, performance has been robust. Looking at the sites on a like-for-like basis (to account for the disposal of some stores) the group is trading in line with the budget set at the start of the year. There has been continued rationalisation of central administrative costs, as well as ensuring cost discipline across labour and cost of sales to maintain a health gross margin. Continued successes with the franchising and licensing of the Harry Ramsden's brand has further driven revenue and profitability across the group. Management continues to focus on developing this element of the business, and there have been further new contract wins into 2025. This channel is increasingly becoming a valuable contributor to the group’s future performance, and in April 2025, led to the strategic decision to recruit a new specialist, specifically to oversee franchising and licensing going forward. Funding these key strategic objectives, the company has utilised a mix of shareholder debt funding, as well as the continued process of disposing of a portion of the bricks and mortar estate. The proceeds from the disposal programme, and the shareholder funding provided throughout the year, has provided working capital and investment to fund the refurbishment of key Harry Ramsden’s restaurants (for example. Brighton in May 2025) and the promotion of the Harry Ramsden's brand across various national and international marketing campaigns, which will drive future growth.” He added: “The global events that have driven inflation, significant rises in energy prices, supply chain issues and a cost-of-living crisis were responsible for another challenging year in 2024. Although the issues described caused transaction numbers to fall in the year, the group achieved positive like for like sales of 6.6% and a healthy gross profit margin of 69.0% compared to 66.9% in the previous year. While turnover and gross profit decreased by 9.8% and 6.6% respectively, Ebitda increased by 4.8%. The disposals in the year have driven the majority of the changes which has also resulted in a reduction of %2 in central (administrative) expenses in the period.Cash at bank decreased from £1.4m in 2023 to £0.8m. Labour shortages improved over the course of the year, but steps are consistently taken to ensure that new staff are attracted, and existing employees are retained. These steps include reviewing pay rates, improving staff benefits and improving our upskilling and training programmes.” Propel revealed in April that the company had hired Mikayla Whittle, formerly of franchise consultancy 2x, as director of franchising and licensing for its Harry Ramsden’s brand. In February, the company also partnered with DFDS Ferries to offer Harry Ramsden’s new ‘Proudly Serving’ format to passengers travelling on DFDS routes between Dover and Calais and Dover and Dunkirk. Deep Blue Restaurants features in the Premium Club Turnover & Profits Blue Book, which is available exclusively to Premium Club subscribers and features 1,126 companies. Its turnover of £22,880,136 for the year ending 24 September 2024 is the 485th highest in the database. A Premium Club subscription costs an annual sum of £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or supplier. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.