Revolution Bars Group PLC (LON:RBG) have posted a sound set of interim results on Wednesday afternoon.

The bar operator said that its loss had narrowed in the first half of 2020, as growth in stores had risen.

For the half year period ending on December 28, the firm saw total sales rise 3.5% to £81.2 million from £78.5 million a year ago.

Following a strong festive trading performance, Revolution added that like for like sales grew 1.2%.

The firm noted that its pretax loss narrowed from £3.5 million one year ago, to £1.6 million recorded today.

Revolution said to shareholders that they do not intend to pay an interim dividend as they want to focus on investing into revitalizing its brands and reducing debt.

Rob Pitcher, Chief Executive Officer, said:

“We have continued to make significant progress revitalising the Revolution brand and further improving the performance of Revolución de Cuba. Having stabilised the business in FY19, FY20 is about consolidation and the benefits of the many actions that we have taken are beginning to be realised.

H2 FY20 has started encouragingly and should we continue on our current trajectory then the Board is confident the business will be well-positioned to resume site expansion in FY21.”

The Chairman, Keith Edeleman added:

“Consistent with the strategy we announced a year ago to focus both management and capital resources on our existing estate and to reduce bank debt, I am pleased to report that in the 26 week period we refurbished seven bars, like-for-like sales performance has continued to improve, and good progress has been made on debt reduction. Our underlying business is much stronger and we are on track to deliver FY20 results in line with market expectations.”

Revolution see strong festive trading

A few weeks back, the firm saw their shares jump following an impressive festive trading update.

The firm reported a seventh successive year of record Christmas sales and this lead to a rise in first half revenue.

Additionally, shareholders were further impressed as the firm announced a deal with real estate landlords to surrender its lease on five struggling sites, and have rent reductions at four other units.

In the four weeks to December 31, the firm saw a 4% rise in like for like sales, as weekly sales during the period averaged £65,000.

In the first half period, ending December 28 revenues grew 3.4% to £81.2 million from £78.5 million on year ago, as like for like sales also rose by 1.2%.

Shares in Revolution Bars Group PLC trade at 63p (-6.51%). 26/2/20 12:35BST.