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LONDON (ShareCast) - Same store sales at Coffeeheaven rose by 16% in the year to March 31, but slowed towards the second half due to the timing of Easter and the impact of the stronger Czech currency, the central European coffee chain said today.

Total sales rose to £16.8m from £10.2m the previous year. In Poland, where 52 of Coffeeheaven’s 87 stores are based, sales rose to £11.7m from £7.4m and by 16% on a like-for-like basis.

Coffeeheaven’s 18 Czech stores recorded sales of £3.3m, from £1.6m previously, with like-for-like sales growth of 15%.

Like-for-like sales growth of 20% in the first half of the year moderated in the second half, the company said.

This was heavily influenced by many customers being on holiday over the Easter weekend at the end of March and the strength of the Czech currency resulting in fewer tourists visiting Prague and therefore Coffeeheaven’s high street stores, the company said.

The company said store margins fully recovered in the second half from 17% to around 19%.

Chairman Richard Worthington explained that they had declined due to the company having to pay higher wages, but were recovered by increasing coffee prices.

Coffeeheaven said that it would continue opening stores at the same rate as in previous years, but with a greater focus on major markets such as Poland and the Czech Republic, rather than newer markets such as Hungary and Romania.

“It’s a question of timing,” Worthington said.

“In Romania, rents are artificially high and in Hungary the economic outlook is uncertain so now may not be the best time to open new stores, but we still plan to do that soon.”

Outside Poland and the Czech Republic, Coffeeheaven has eight stores in Latvia, four in Bulgaria, two each in Slovakia and Hungary and one in Romania.

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