The owner of Tootsies and GBK has announced its preliminary annual results

Restaurant group Clapham House, owners of Tootsies and Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK), has posted an 18% decline in profits in its preliminary annual results.

For the year ending 29 March, the group, which also owns The Real Greek restaurants, posted pre-tax profits of £4.1 million, down from £5m the previous year.

Despite the fall in profits, Clapham House remains positive about its mid-term market prospects for the UK restaurant sector.

Popular restaurant chain Tootsies struggled in the past year and wrote down £24.2m through the impairment of goodwill and intangible assets.

The group’s revenue has increased by 16.7% for the year to £62.2m, up by the £53.3m posted in 2008, mainly driven by continued organic growth. Clapham House also opened up eight new restaurants over the year.

David Page, Executive Chairman of Clapham House, said: “Despite consumer confidence in the UK being fragile and the trading outlook remaining uncertain, our sales in the first quarter of FY10 across the Group are 6% higher than in the same period last year.

“We remain positive about the mid-term market prospects for the UK eating out market and in particular the future expansion of GBK across the UK.”