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Financial Times - 29 Jan 07

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WELCOME BREAK BACK IN THE BLACK

Lower debt costs and a series of investments in new facilities helped Welcome Break, the motorway service area operator, reports its first pre-tax profit in years.

The group, which is owned by Investcorp, the Bahrain-based investment group, reported a pre-tax profit of £1.9m for the year to September 25, compared with a loss of £5.4m the year before.

Welcome Break said the loss in 2005 was largely due to exceptionals linked to its refinancing.  Net interest payable for 2006 fell from £27m to £23m.

Meanwhile, a programme of heavy investment in modernising its network of 24 service stations across the UK has helped raise non-fuel like-for-like sales by 4.4 per cent.

As part of the capital investments made in 2006, it upgraded toilets at its service stations and increased the number of catering units, with a particular push on new KFC and Coffee Primo outlets.