Exclusive – Five Guys UK reports record full-year revenue of £237m: Better burger brand Five Guys UK saw its full-year revenue climb 45% to a record £237,298,000 in the 12 months to 31 December 2021 compared with £164,206,000 the previous year. This was on the back of 26 new site openings and its ability at the start of the period to flex to a delivery and takeaway operation. This also exceeded the £173,227,916 reported in 2019 – the last full year before the pandemic. The company, which is backed by Sir Charles Dunstone, operated 136 sites in the UK by the end of 2021 and plans to have opened 20-25 more sites by the end of 2022. The company said it continued to believe that “there are strong growth prospects in the premium burger market and intends to continue the roll out of Five Guys in the UK”. In the year to 31 December 2021, the company said operating profit increased to £50,865,000 (2020: profit of £21,210,000), with both measures reflecting new store openings and the annualisation of stores opened in 2020, alongside the effect of the coronavirus pandemic, which affected both the year and the comparative period. The business reported a pre-tax profit of £33,588,000 compared with a profit of £3,367,000 the year before (2019: profit of £696,257). The company said: “We ended the year with a robust performance and believe the business is well positioned going into 2022.” It said in some instances, monthly and quarterly waivers and deferrals of lease payments were agreed with landlords during the year. The business created 1,660 jobs in the UK, employing in total 4,750 staff at year end. It said: “The company continues to pay in excess of the national living wage, and our mystery shopper programme returned nearly 2% of revenue to employees in incentive compensation for excellent service and standards.” It had £95.6m bank debt at the end of the year. A bank loan of £93.7m from a bank facility arranged in June 2018 and amended in May 2021 is due for repayment in June 2024. The company has a further eight sites in its openings pipeline, including sites in London’s Victoria, Tunbridge Wells, Birmingham Fort and Newcastle Silverlink. The brand also operates sites in France, Spain and Germany, and total revenue across its entire portfolio, including the UK, stood at £343,415,000 in the year (2020: £233,015,000), as it swung from an operating loss of £14,169,000 in 2020 to a profit of £24,573,000.