Papa John’s: UK losses continue as over 70 locations closed
The UK arm of Papa John’s continued to make significant losses in 2024 as it closed more than 70 locations.
The division of the US pizza giant has reported a pre-tax loss of £21.8m for its latest financial year, having also lost £19.2m in 2023.
New accounts filed with Companies House also show the firm’s turnover dipped in the 12 months from £95.9m to £88.6m.
The last time Papa Johns made a pre-tax profit in the UK was the £8.1m it achieved in 2021. At the time, its turnover stood at £102.3m.
A statement signed off by the board said: “In 2024 we continued to navigate the effects of global disruption; ongoing geopolitical issues, staffing shortages and rises in commodity costs.
“Whilst there was an improvement in consumer confidence, this remains below pre-pandemic levels with consumers more cost-conscious and more risk averse.”
The company closed 74 restaurants and opened seven in the year, finishing 2024 with 457 Papa John’s locations in the UK, down from 524.
Papa John’s eyes profitable 2025
The results come after the UK boss of Papa John’s revealed the company is eyeing a return to profit in 2025 after closing more than 40 restaurants last year.
Speaking on CityAM‘s Boardroom Uncovered show, managing director Chris Phylactou confirmed the business is “no longer losing money” and is on track to report its first UK profit since 2021.
Subscribe to the Boardroom Uncovered show from CityAM here.
Speaking during the episode, Phylactou said the division is “no longer losing money” and that it’s now expecting to make a profit in 2025.
“That’s because of the difficult decisions we made back then”, he said.
“Having people lose their jobs is the last option for us. We tried everything to keep the restaurants open.”
He added: “It’s never an easy decision and something that I wasn’t happy doing, but it’s something that we had to do as a brand.
“We held on to the restaurants probably longer than we should have to protect the people for as long as we could.
“And we put a lot of effort into trying those trying to turn those businesses around.
“But unfortunately, they were even the wrong location and the performance of the restaurants was really bad.
“So there was no business case to keep them open.”