Bought a few of these yesterday on the back of an excelent AGM report. The owner of CPH is the chap who was behind the success of Pizza Express so I would tend to think he knows what he is doing.

The company as already bought two high street brand names and is looking for a third. Highly speculative of course but I tend to think with this guys track record the reward will outweigh the risk.

Heres the AGM statement....................

The Clapham House Group PLC
07 September 2004



The Clapham House Group PLC
7 September 2004


AGM Statement


At today's Annual General Meeting, David Page, Chairman of The Clapham House
Group PLC ('the Company' or 'Clapham House'), will make the following comments
on the Company's trading and prospects :


'Since their respective acquisitions, The Real Greek and The Bombay Bicycle Club
have been successfully integrated into Clapham House and both businesses are
currently trading ahead of our expectations.


The Real Greek

A new Real Greek Souvlaki & Bar opened in a premium location on London's South
Bank in the first week of July 2004 and has traded excellently in its initial
weeks. Encouraged by this success, we are currently negotiating on a number of
further properties for The Real Greek.


The Bombay Bicycle Club

The Bombay Bicycle Club restaurant and delivery kitchens have performed well
since their acquisition in April 2004. A new Bombay Bicycle Club restaurant is
under construction in Hampstead and will open in the autumn. Four further
properties are currently under offer and with lawyers.


Corporate Developments

We are also negotiating on several further potential acquisitions. We are
confident that one of these will become the Company's third platform format,
comfortably inside the two years we set ourselves for completing our three
initial acquisitions at the time of the Company's admission to AIM.


Negotiations to acquire property packages are also ongoing with a number of
parties, although we have made it clear in these discussions that we are not
prepared to pay uneconomic prices for packages of sites.


Outlook

As a Board we are delighted with the nature and speed of progress made to date
in achieving the Company's strategic aim of building a group of high growth
restaurant and delivery formats.'


Enquiries :


The Clapham House Group PLC
David Page, Executive Chairman 07836 346934
Paul Campbell, Chief Executive 07785 228299


Noble & Company Limited
John Llewellyn-Lloyd 020 7763 2200


Gainsborough Communications
Andy Cornelius 020 7841 1023
Julian Walker 020 7841 1021





Note to Editors

Clapham House's aim is to exploit acquisition opportunities within the UK
restaurant sector. The Company's strategy is to create value for shareholders
through acquiring and actively developing a small number of quality, branded
restaurant formats predominantly in and around the M25 region for expansion into
a high growth restaurant group. The Company successfully floated on AIM on 10
November 2003 and is backed by a number of leading City institutions and with
significant investment from the founding management team.






This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange ENDS.


Please DYOR.

cheers Gf.

Clapham House's aim is to exploit acquisition opportunities within the UK
restaurant sector. The Company's strategy is to create value for shareholders
through acquiring and actively developing a small number of quality, branded
restaurant formats predominantly in and around the M25 region for expansion into
a high growth restaurant group. The Company successfully floated on AIM on 10
November 2003 and is backed by a number of leading City institutions and with
significant investment from the founding management team.

cheers GF.

A look at the main points from the preliminary results ended 31/ March 2004.


Highlights :



Placing and admission to AIM on 10 November 2003, raising 14.75m
(before flotation expenses of 0.5m) at 100p per share

Completion of first acquisition, The Real Greek, in December 2003

Net cash as at 31 March 2004 of 13.3 million

Loss before exceptional costs and taxation for the period ended 31
March 2004 of 84,000

Completion of second acquisition, The Bombay Bicycle Club, in April
2004

Secondary placing raising 7.0m at 140p per share to complete in June
2004

In addition, discussions are underway on a number of packages of properties
which, if successful, will enable Clapham House to accelerate its plans to
expand these formats.'

Results



The Company was incorporated on 1 October 2003 and these results cover the
period from that date until 31 March 2004. Clapham House successfully completed
a placing and admission to AIM on 10 November 2003, raising 14.75m (before
flotation expenses) at 100p per share. Flotation expenses of 510,000 have been
charged to the Company's share premium account.



During this period, the Company acquired The Real Greek Food Company Limited ('
The Real Greek') on 18 December 2003 and the results therefore include fifteen
weeks' trading for this business. These are typically the quietest months of the
year for any restaurant business.



Loss before exceptional costs and taxation for the period ended 31 March 2004
was 84,000.



As at 31 March 2004, Clapham House's net cash balances amounted to 13.3
million.


Outlook



On 1 April 2004 the Company acquired the entire issued share capital of
Nilecroft Ltd, Odsey Ltd, Overpark Ltd, and Seahawk Ltd, comprising the business
and assets of The Bombay Bicycle Club operation ('The Bombay Bicycle Club').



On 13 May 2004, the Company announced a placing to raise 7.0 m (before
expenses) at 140p per share. I am pleased to announce that the resolutions
approving the placing were passed by shareholders at an Extraordinary General
Meeting on 7 June 2004, and it is expected that dealings in the new ordinary
shares will commence on or around 11 June 2004.




I am very pleased that we have acquired two excellent platform businesses so
soon after commencing trading. This puts us well ahead of the timetable we set
ourselves at flotation and we are currently examining a number of businesses
which may become our next acquisition. This would represent the achievement of
our initial target to acquire three restaurant formats in the first two years of
the Company's existence and would put us in a position to focus on the
integration and expansion of these brands. To this end we have already acquired
a new 4,000 sq. foot unit on the South Bank for The Real Greek Souvlaki and Bar,
which will open this summer, and we are in negotiations on a number of units for
The Bombay Bicycle Club. As disclosed at the time of our secondary placing, we
are also talking to a number of companies about acquiring packages of premises
which may be available for acquisition as a result of industry consolidation or
rationalisation.



The Directors believe that the rationalisation of the restaurant sector will
continue to provide attractive opportunities and we look forward to the current
financial year with confidence.



David Page
Chairman
8 June 2004

Web site.

http://www.claphamhouse.com

cheers GF.

Heres an article on the business from The Times..................

Dine out on the Clapham concept
Stella Shamoon on a restaurant group that she feels will satisfy her appetite for healthy returns Dividends are not on the menu; profits will be ploughed back into the business.



THERE is a feeding frenzy in UK restaurants, notably in and around London, where affluent, time-poor consumers, weary from pursuit of wealth and status, seek nourishment for body and soul by eating out several evenings a week.

What is even more satisfying to many is to eat at home the very same dishes that they would travel miles to enjoy when dining out. Home meal replacement, whether via supermarket sales of pre-prepared food, restaurant deliveries or takeaways, is growing as fast the nations girth.

That is what makes shares in Clapham House Group, the restaurant group capitalised at nearly 30 million, look so tasty. The business raised 14.3 million (net) in November when it was floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) as a virtual start-up.

Two acquisitions for established restaurants have since been made. The Real Greek Restaurant in East London was bought in December for 363,000 plus an earn-out of five times full-year pre-tax profit in 2007 with a cap of a maximum 8.7 million, minus the downpayment.

The Real Greek has three restaurants, including its award-winning Hoxton outlet. Its Souvlaki and Bar format will be expanded. A fourth restaurant, near the Globe on the South Bank, opens this summer. The Real Greeks historic earnings before exceptional costs are 216,000 on sales of 1.1 million.

Clapham House also acquired the Bombay Bicycle Club in Clapham for 1.845 million, plus a maximum earn-out of 575,000 in 12 months. It has one flagship restaurant and five delivery units in southwest London. Its historic earnings before exceptional costs are 344,000 on sales of 2.6 million.

These are high-growth restaurant formats and Clapham House is poised to roll them out within the M25. It is currently in negotiations to buy up to 20 restaurants from nine different sellers that either want to sell out or rationalise their businesses.

Consumers want predictable quality and variety when eating out. But the UK restaurant trade is highly fragmented other than in pizzas and burgers, where the chains dominate. For example, in Indian restaurants alone, there are an estimated 6,000 units worth 1 billion in sales. Clapham House plans up to 40 units for Bombay Bicycle in London alone.

This month, the group raised an additional 7 million, via a placing of five million new shares with hungry institutional investors at 1.40p a share. That compares with 1 a share at flotation. With 21 million of cash in its coffers, Clapham House can spend up to 10 million to buy restaurants.

The restaurants that it is considering buying are mainly leasehold properties that are not necessarily prime, but which are ripe for improvement. Where possible, the group seeks properties with space on upper floors extraneous to its requirement for a 3,000sq ft template restaurant so that it can generate rental income.

That additional income would in turn allow the enterprise to raise some debt to accelerate growth. Claphams strategy is to develop a handful of high-growth restaurant formats, each of which will have between 15 and 20 home delivery satellite operations to maximise sales at higher margins, given their lower staff and cost of occupancy.

The goal is to have three core restaurant concepts, each with up to five full-service restaurants, and another 20 satellites by 2007. By then it expects to be earning 4 million in pre-tax profits and throwing off strong cashflow. The maths is compelling.

The group will spend 500,000 to develop each core restaurant and 150,000 for each of the satellites. A successful restaurant should achieve annual sales of 600,000 and make pre-tax profit of 18 per cent. The satellites would each generate annual sales of 500,000 with a 10 per cent pre-tax margin.

So the effective return on capital employed would be about 20 per cent across the groups portfolio. But dividends are not on the menu; profits will be ploughed back into the business. Capital will be allocated to the strongest-performing format.

Clapham House is run by passionate foodies with the experience and skill of venture capitalists when it comes to upmarket formatted restaurants.

Its simple strategy has been tested, refined and realised in the past by the chairman, David Page, a 51-year-old self-made multimillionaire. He was a major franchisee of PizzaExpress and became its driving force over ten years to 2002, during which time it expanded from 23 restaurants to 350.

Mr Page is persuasive about the rich profits to be derived from selling good, simple food in upmarket but affordable restaurants at prices that people will pay regularly Claphams target customer base will unhesitatingly spend 8 to 25 a head.

We are talking of the habitu of Highgate, Wimbledon, Clapham, Belsize Park, the City and Dulwich. That is where Clapham House will expand. In the South East, it is targeting Guildford, Brighton and Southampton.

Mr Page is unashamedly awarding key executives rich incentives to make his strategy work. For example, Sarah Willingham, recruited from PizzaExpress as managing director of Bombay Bicycle, has been given a 9.5 per cent stake in that specific business, and if it delivers 2 million pre-tax profit in 2007, she will claim a 1 million bonus.

Mr Page says: That cash bonus will be a one-off payment, while shareholders will have benefited from all the cash that Bombay Bicycle will have shed while growing to that profitability, and all that it can generate thereafter.

Mr Page started out as a manager of PizzaExpress, and subsequently did so well from bonuses that he accumulated the capital to buy franchises which he sold to PizzaExpress for 4 million in return for shares. When PizzaExpress went private via a merger with Ask, he made more than 10 million.

Now he is poised to start all over again at Clapham House. He is flanked by Paul Campbell as chief executive,a chartered accountant and recent finance director of PizzaExpress. They believe that London can support about 30 sites of a single format. Apart from Indian and Greek, they like noodles, high-quality burgers and tapas as potential target formats. They can recruit experienced managers who are on the market in the fallout from recent consolidation, not least that of PizzaExpress.

Mr Page says: We only need to keep the right chefs in each restaurant. The rest of the management can be cherry-picked and trained for maximum operational efficiency and cost synergies.

For my part, I shall give my broker the order to buy me shares in Clapham at 1.40. I expect to dine out on my future profits.ENDS.

cheers GF.

Break up confirmed on heavier volume.



cheers GF

Group Stratergy And Aims.

The Clapham House Group PLC

The Clapham House Group successfully floated on AIM on 10 November 2003, backed by a number of leading City institutions and with a significant investment from the founding management team. The companys business plan is to create value through acquiring and actively developing a small number of restaurant formats that are currently trading profitably within and around the M25 region.

The companys Executive Directors, David Page and Paul Campbell, each have proven track records of developing and building successful and profitable restaurant and leisure concepts across the UK and were until recently Directors of PizzaExpress Plc, the successful and highly profitable restaurant group with more than 300 restaurants in the UK and internationally.

The UK eating out market is still growing and, with the exception of the traditional pizza/pasta sector, the UK market is generally fragmented. Clapham House will therefore favour sectors of the restaurant market that are relatively unconsolidated and will apply the following investment criteria in assessing potential acquisitions:

They should be cash generative and profitable
They should have a simple operational format
Typically they should have no more than 10 existing units
They should have low capital expenditure requirements
They should have the capability for an eventual national roll out of at least 50 restaurants.

Owners or advisors of businesses that meet these criteria can contact the company in confidence and an initial exploratory meeting will be held.

As Clapham House expands the estates of the concepts it acquires, it will look for operational synergies and certain support functions will be shared. The company is also very interested in exploiting opportunities for brand expansion into retail outlets, such as supermarkets.

cheers GF

Doesnt seem to be anyone interested in this one. Remember this guy rewarded the investors in Pizza Express with a ten bagger, my bet is he will do it again as he is an experienced and class manager and theres not too many about.

cheers GF.

Well someones had a bite this morning.

cheers Gf.

Oops! Didn't think it had taken that post.
I might have a bite on this - purely on what I've read above. GF I know what you're saying re. Pizza Express, and I think Mr Page has a better chance than most in what is a risky but highly profitable business when it's done right. Am watching the price.

Yorkie

Yorkie I feel hes going to make it big time again, but patience will be needed for a month or two. Those that get in at the beginning will reap the big rewards.

cheers Gf.

GF you're most probably right, but I may wait and watch for a while. It's had a good spurt this week so may drop back. There's hardly been any trading today. There are also other shares I'd like to own - eg. HMY which looks pretty good from the short term and beyond.

I think it will get a lot of coverage this one yorkie with the well known and respected boss being a favourite in the city.

I feel you could miss out on the early gains if you dither about.

Remember Hamworthy is an excelent company and will probably start to rise again when crude goes up once again, but when will that be?.

cheers GF

GF, I've been considering what appear to be several good buys of late, but I'll follow your advice on this one early on Monday. Sorry you're not on SC any more but good to see you posting on this site.

Yorkie, theres been some awfull manipulation on SC of late. I have been accused by one CW of foul mouthing etc, there is no way I would do that and I am owed an appology. That site as really gone down hill and the management really need to look at themselves.

cheers GF.

GF, I went on holiday and when I came back the site's changed out of sight. No more slater or katie - was she banned for being too smart or was she just sick of it? Can you tell me what this new site is that old SC's frequent? Maybe SB could shed light on why FWY aren't doing a bit better!

share forum.com I think. I took one look at it and just wiped it from the memory of my PC. Sites not very good and posters are all the same as on SC its, just duplication. In my opinion this is the very best site around followed by the motley fool site, with pauly pilots cafe which is excelent.

cheers GF.

GF, couldn't find it. Had a look at motley fool. Don't like the format much. Don't like the way you agreed with Paul the 'landlord' that anyone investing in restaurants at this point in the economic cycle must be certifiable either! Hmmmm.

Yorkie he and I were having a go at a certain unpleasant poster on there.

Its WWW.shareforums.co.uk got it from my pc history function.

cheers GF.

It's www.sharesforum.co.uk and the only reason GF doesn't rate it is because he's banned from posting there. And what is this story about me accusing you of foul mouthing GF? What exactly do I owe you an apology for? I really object to you making misleading statements about me on a public bulletin board. I think you owe me an explanation.

GF, sorry but I read the post out of context - apologies. Had a look at share forum and I don't mind it. It looks civilised and posters can put a proper sentence together. A lot like the old SC but then I liked the old SC - the first board I started reading. You could call it the 'sharebear show' but I suppose that's what he wanted. Is it his site/design? Didn't really know him, but a clever chap no doubt.
Anyway, CPH a strong possibility but I'm waivering because there are others. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on the likely momentum of ITH, or the bouncing potential of CPG and GON. Or the adding wisdom with BPRG. There appears to be many potential good buys vying for attention at the moment.

Many thanks