North East property, care and hospitality company Gainford Group has seen turnover jump 28% after using pandemic lockdowns to invest in its businesses.
The Chester-le-Street firm, which employs more than 1,000 people, operates a string of care homes as well as bars, hotels and restaurants in Newcastle including the Vermont Hotel, Aveika, Livello, and the County Hotel. Published accounts for 2021 show the firm chalked up turnover of £36.24m, a 28% increase on the previous year, while pre-tax profit more than doubled from £3.64m to £7.87m, despite lockdowns affecting trading at the firm’s bars, restaurants and hotels for a large chunk of the year.
Operating profit was £8.37m, up from £4.11m. The group says 2021 proved to be a further challenging year for the group’s trading history as the effects of the global Covid pandemic continued for longer than originally expected, with the hospitality side of the business only fully operational in the later half of the year. Within its care home business, Gainford said the company managed to trade throughout the whole period without any major Covid outbreaks or any serious drops in occupancy.
