Tortilla Mexican Grill (AIM:MEX), the largest fast-casual Mexican restaurant business in the UK and Europe, reported revenue of £38.5m for the 26 weeks to 28 June, up 5.9% from £36.3m a year earlier.
UK like-for-like sales rose 13.9% over the half, with delivery sales up 32.7% after the group reintroduced a multi-aggregator model spanning Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat, momentum that accelerated to 19.7% like-for-like growth in the 14 weeks to 28 June.
Group adjusted EBITDA before IFRS 16 turned positive at £0.5m, against a £0.4m loss in the same period last year, as UK adjusted EBITDA rose to £2.6m and French losses narrowed from £2.8m to £2.1m.
The improvement follows a difficult FY25, when a French accounting correction added £2.7m of costs and dragged group adjusted EBITDA to just £1.1m; seven former Fresh Burritos sites are now converted to the Tortilla brand, with three more closed in the half and a further two since period end, leaving one unconverted site.
Loss before tax narrowed to £1.9m from £4.9m, with loss per share of 2.4p versus 6.2p a year earlier.
Adjusted net debt rose to £12.4m from £9.9m, after the group drew down £3.8m under its Santander facility to acquire two long leasehold properties, part of a plan to cut future rent exposure; over £8m of further liquidity remained available at period end.
"This momentum, together with a focus on driving Average Unit Volume across the portfolio, will start to lead to improved profit conversion in the future," said founder and group chief executive Brandon Stephens.
Trading has continued to strengthen since the half-year close, with UK like-for-like sales up 19.4% and French converted-store like-for-likes up 24.4% in the 13 weeks to 27 September, taking trailing twelve-month system sales to £102.9m by August.