Gondola Group Limited

Company Profile
Publication Date: 18 Mar 2010

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Gondola Group Limited

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Gondola Group Limited

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Company Overview..............................................................................................4 Key Facts...............................................................................................................4 Business Description...........................................................................................5 History...................................................................................................................6 Key Employees.....................................................................................................7 Key Employee Biographies..................................................................................8 Major Products and Services............................................................................10 Top Competitors.................................................................................................11 Company View.....................................................................................................12 Locations and Subsidiaries...............................................................................13

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Gondola Group Limited

Company Overview

COMPANY OVERVIEW
Gondola Group, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in the operation of restaurants. The group operates about 600 restaurants under PizzaExpress, ASK and Zizzi brands. The group primarily operates in the UK and Ireland. It is headquartered in London, the UK and employs about 13,400 people. The group recorded revenues of 509.3 million ($823.4 million) during the finacial year ended June 2009 (FY2009), an increase of 10.3% over FY2008. The operating profit of the group was 45.7 million ($73.9 million) during FY2009, an increase of 2.7% over FY2008.The net loss was 55 million ($88.9 million) in FY2009, as compared to the net loss of 56.7 million ($91.7 million) in FY2008.

KEY FACTS
Head Office Gondola Group Limited 5th Floor 2 Balcombe Street London NW1 6NW GBR 44 1895 263122

Phone Fax Web Address

http://www.gondolagroup.co.uk

Revenue / turnover 509.3 (GBP Mn) Financial Year End Employees June 13,307

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Gondola Group Limited

Business Description

BUSINESS DESCRIPTION
Gondola Group, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in the operation of restaurants. Cinven, the manager and advisor of the Cinven Funds, holds controlling interest in the group. The group operates about 600 restaurants in the UK and Ireland. The group operates through PizzaExpress, ASK, Zizzi, Milano, BYRON and Kettners brands. PizzaExpress is a chain of about 369 restaurants. It offers a range of pizzas, pasta, salads, desserts, and drinks such as wine, sparkling, beer, spirits, and soft drinks. ASK is an informal Italian chain of about 120 restaurants. It offers antipasti, pizza and calzone, insalata, pasta and risotto, al forno, salads, desserts, hot drinks, spirits, and soft drinks. Zizzi is an Italian chain of about 102 restaurants. The restaurants offer breads and antipasti, pasta and risotto, pizza and calzone, carne and pesce, insalate, desserts, sides, and drinks. Milano is a PizzaExpress brand in Ireland. BYRON is a chain of hamburger restaurants. Kettners is an iconic Soho champagne bar and restaurant. The groups other subsidiaries include PizzaExpress (Restaurants), Bookcash Trading, PizzaExpress (Wholesale), Agenbite, PizzaExpress Merchandising, PizzaExpress (Jersey), Al Rollo, ASK Central, Gondola Finance 1, Gondola Finance 2, Gondola Acquisitions, Gondola Holdings, Gondola Investments, Gondola Finance, and Riposte.

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Gondola Group Limited

History

HISTORY
Gondola Group traces back its history with the listing of Gondola Holdings on the London Stock Exchange in 2005. In 2006, Paternoster Acquisitions, a company formed at the direction of funds managed and advised by Cinven Limited, acquired Gondola Holdings and renamed it to Gondola Group. In the same year, the group acquired PizzaExpress and ASK restaurants. Chris Woodhouse was appointed as the Non Executive Chairman, Charles Miller-Jones was appointed as a Non Executive Director, and Nick Carter was appointed as the Finance Director at the group in 2007. In 2008, the group opened 34 new restaurant outlets. The group opened 36 new restaurants during 2009. Note: No further relevant news item available about Gondola Group at the time of publication of the profile.

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Gondola Group Limited

Key Employees

KEY EMPLOYEES
Name
Harvey Smyth Nick Carter Chris Woodhouse Yagnish Chotai Peter Catterall Charles Miller Jones

Job Title
Chief Executive Officer Finance Director Non Executive Chairman Non Executive Director Non Executive Director Non Executive Director

Board
Executive Board Executive Board Non Executive Board Non Executive Board Non Executive Board Non Executive Board

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Key Employee Biographies

KEY EMPLOYEE BIOGRAPHIES

Harvey Smyth
Board: Executive Board Job Title: Chief Executive Officer Since: 2006 Age: 41 Mr. Smyth has been the Chief Executive Officer at Gondola Group since 2006. He joined PizzaExpress in 2003 as its Chief Executive Officer. He was previously Deputy Chief Executive Officer and UK Managing Director of Pret A Manger. Mr. Smyth has a degree in biochemistry from Bristol University, and is also a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Nick Carter
Board: Executive Board Job Title: Finance Director Since: 2007 Age: 42 Mr. Carter has been the Finance Director at Gondola Group since 2007. Prior to this, he was Finance Director at Halfords Group and Birthdays Group and held a number of finance and commercial roles at Superdrug Stores and Kingfisher. Mr. Carter qualified as a Chartered Accountant at KPMG.

Chris Woodhouse
Board: Non Executive Board Job Title: Non Executive Chairman Since: 2007 Age: 48 Mr. Woodhouse has been the Non Executive Chairman at Gondola Group since 2007. He serves as the Finance Director of Debenhams. He was previously Deputy Chairman of Halfords Group and Commercial Director and Deputy Chief Executive at Homebase Group. He is a former Finance Director of Birthdays Group and Superdrug Stores. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and is an Associate of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

Yagnish Chotai
Board: Non Executive Board Job Title: Non Executive Director

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Gondola Group Limited

Key Employee Biographies

Since: 2006 Age: 50 Mr. Chotai has been a Non Executive Director at Gondola Group since 2006. He is a Partner with Cinven, having joined them in 1996.

Peter Catterall
Board: Non Executive Board Job Title: Non Executive Director Since: 2006 Age: 40 Mr. Catterall has been a Non Executive Director at Gondala Group since 2006. He is a Partner with Cinven, having joined them in 1997.

Charles Miller Jones

Board: Non Executive Board Job Title: Non Executive Director Since: 2007 Age: 28 Mr. Jones has been a Non Executive Director at Gondala Group since 2007. He is a Principal with Cinven, having joined them in 2005 and is a Member of the Consumer sector team.

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Gondola Group Limited

Major Products and Services

MAJOR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Gondola Group is engaged in the operation of restaurants. The group's key services and brands include the following: Services: Restaurant services Brands: ASK BYRON Kettners Milano PizzaExpress Zizzi

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Gondola Group Limited

Top Competitors

TOP COMPETITORS

The following companies are the major competitors of Gondola Group Limited

McDonald's Corporation Whitbread PLC Pizza Hut (UK) Limited Domino's Pizza, Inc. Doctor's Associates Inc The Restaurant Group Plc Tragus Holdings Ltd Wagamama Group Ltd

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Gondola Group Limited

Company View

COMPANY VIEW
A statement by Chris Woodhouse, Non Executive Chairman of the Board of Gondola Group is given below. The statement has been taken from the groups 2009 annual report. The current year has seen us grow both sales and profits through our continued focus on delivering excellence to our customers and by investment in promotional and brand building activity. This has stimulated interest in our brands and generated significant increase in customer numbers. All our individual brands have developed during the period under review with the management teams of ASK and Zizzi in particular being strengthened. I am very pleased to introduce Helen Jones, who joined us in August 2009 as the Managing Director of Zizzi. PizzaExpress continued to build on its strong performance of the previous year and this year has enhanced its brand strength with innovative new products combined with successful marketing strategies. The New Development Group has successfully opened four additional Byron restaurants this year and this outstanding brand is now gaining kudos as a high quality casual dining offer, with momentum to continue its development through further openings. The team has also delivered a major refurbishment and relaunch of Kettners. Our new openings programme across the Group has been sustained, with a total of 36 new restaurants being opened this year, an increase of two over the previous year. Performance of new restaurants has been above expectations and we will continue to open new restaurants in great locations in the future, taking advantage of the scaling back in this area by some of our competitors. Despite the tough trading conditions experienced, particularly in the latter part of 2008, our continuing progress across all areas is reflected in the Groups strong trading results for the year. The results were particularly strong in the second half of the year as our promotional activity gained momentum. Our financial performance shows that Gondolas portfolio of brands has been able to offer an outstanding value for money proposition, which has enabled us to deliver robust results in difficult economic circumstances. Whilst we expect economic conditions to remain challenging in the forthcoming year, we continue to view the prospects for the Group very positively, and believe that our excellent brands, led by forward thinking management teams and supported by high quality centralised support functions will continue to deliver growth. Finally, I would like to thank our employees for their continuing contribution to our businesses. Their dedication and enthusiasm is what the customer experience is all about and allows our brands to stand out from the pack.

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Gondola Group Limited

Locations and Subsidiaries

LOCATIONS AND SUBSIDIARIES

Head Office
Gondola Group Limited 5th Floor 2 Balcombe Street London NW1 6NW GBR P:44 1895 263122 http://www.gondolagroup.co.uk

Other Locations and Subsidiaries

PizzaExpress Limited GBR Bookcash Trading Limited GBR Agenbite Limited IRL PizzaExpress (Jersey) Limited Jersey GBR ASK Central Limited GBR Gondola Finance 1 Limited GBR Gondola Acquisitions Limited GBR Gondola Investments Limited GBR PizzaExpress (Restaurants) Limited GBR PizzaExpress (Wholesale) Limited GBR PizzaExpress Merchandising Limited GBR Al Rollo Limited GBR

ASK Restaurants Limited GBR Gondola Finance 2 Limited GBR Gondola Holdings Limited GBR Gondola Finance Limited GBR

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