Gainford Group sees turnover jump 28% as lockdown…

Gainford Group sees turnover jump 28% as lockdown investments boost leisure venues

North East property, care and hospitality company Gainford Group has seen turnover jump 28% after using pandemic lockdowns to invest in its businesses.

The Chester-le-Street firm, which employs more than 1,000 people, operates a string of care homes as well as bars, hotels and restaurants in Newcastle including the Vermont Hotel, Aveika, Livello, and the County Hotel. Published accounts for 2021 show the firm chalked up turnover of £36.24m, a 28% increase on the previous year, while pre-tax profit more than doubled from £3.64m to £7.87m, despite lockdowns affecting trading at the firm’s bars, restaurants and hotels for a large chunk of the year.

Operating profit was £8.37m, up from £4.11m. The group says 2021 proved to be a further challenging year for the group’s trading history as the effects of the global Covid pandemic continued for longer than originally expected, with the hospitality side of the business only fully operational in the later half of the year. Within its care home business, Gainford said the company managed to trade throughout the whole period without any major Covid outbreaks or any serious drops in occupancy.

Early next year it plans to start the development of a new health care site, which will include a 70 bed luxury care home. Within its leisure venues, the company said it used the enforced downtime of lockdowns as an opportunity to reinvest into all key sites, significantly enhancing the venues at The Vermont, The County, Aveika and Livello – while also opening new rooftop bar Above – principally to increase outdoor space so that the venues could operate safely post pandemic.

In his report, director Imran Khaliq said the company also had to make use of the Government support schemes, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and rates relief, to minimise any losses caused by the lack of opportunity to trade as normal.

The report said: “Overall, the company has responded very well to the crisis and has managed to trade strongly and, despite all above issues, has actually traded at an improved level of that achieved in 2020. This is considered to be a credit to the management team and the overall operation of the business, which is expected to carry on into 2022 and beyond.

“Turnover from Gainford Hotels was significantly impacted at the start of year as all sites were closed until May 2021, with a phased reopening following, which saw the company capitalise on the large pent up demand that followed the lifting of government restrictions.

“In light of the current market conditions caused by the Covid outbreak, we remain vigilant to the impact this will have on the hospitality sector and travel trends going forward, as well as its effect on the healthcare industry. However recent investments across the estate and Gainford Group’s strong balance sheet means it is well positioned for the future.”