XP Factory shares were up 8.2% to 26.2p in late afternoon trading on Tuesday, following the company’s reported 163% revenue growth to £7 million in FY 2021 against £2.7 million in FY 2020.
The escape room firm announced an adjusted EBITDA of £2.7 million from a loss of £1.4 million last year, alongside a pre-IFRS 16 adjusted EBITDA of £500,000 for the six months to 31 December 2021 compared to a loss of £900,000, representing the group’s achievement of critical mass.
XP Factory also narrowed its group operating loss to £500,000 against a loss of £6.4 million in the previous year, helped by strong H2 trading and £2.6 million in research and development credits.
The group reported £16.1 million net of expenses raised through an equity placing and open offer to fund its acquisition of Boom Bottle Bar in November 2021, with cash at the end of 2021 at £8.2 million from £2.7 million in 2020, and £6.9 million on 30 April 2022.
“2021 was an important year in our journey. It marked the inflexion point at which we delivered sufficient critical mass to become profitable and was the year where we best set ourselves up to become a key player in the leisure space with the acquisition of Boom,” said XP Factory CEO Richard Harpham.
“With the Escape Room category becoming much more a part of the mainstream consumer psyche, and with competitive socialising being such a fast growing sub-sector within the leisure market, we feel that XP Factory is perfectly positioned through its operating brands Escape Hunt and Boom respectively.”
“With such a well-developed pipeline of sites, such encouraging demonstrable unit economics in both brands, and such a well-positioned business in terms of customer demand, we have reason to be highly optimistic about the future for XP Factory.”