Carluccio’s, the Italian all-day restaurant operator, has launched the search for a franchise partner in the Middle East after succesfully opening its first franchised outlet in Dublin.

Simon Kossoff, managing director, said today that the Dublin store was trading at the top end of expectations, in line with a Central London site, and its Irish franchise partners were now looking for a second site in Dublin as well as in Cork and Belfast.

He said that the strong performance had encouraged Carluccio’s to consider other franchise territories, although it had ruled out an early move into America and Australia, two of the main possibilities it was investigating.

He said that the Middle East, where both Starbucks and Costa have established a strong presence, was likely to be its second territory after Ireland. “We’re looking at the market and who the potential partners might be,” he said.

Carluccio’s this morning reported a 19 per cent jump in pre-tax profits to £2.8 million in the half-year to March 23, and said that, despite the economic crisis and pressure on consumer spending, it remained confident over its prospects.

Turnover rose by 19 per cent to £30.9 million, and the interim dividend is 17 per cent higher at 0.7p per share.

Mr Kossoff said that Carluccio’s was well-placed to weather any consumer storms as its spend per head was only £12 in its restaurants and £8 in its retail areas.

Other factors such as the weather and rising costs were proving more significant. “We like the sunshine as 25 per cent of our seating is outside,” he said. “We had rubbish weather in April but a normal summer would allow us to make full use of these outside seats.”

Mr Kossoff said that the company had also managed to sidestep rising food prices by making menu changes, including dropping some beef dishes, and using its increased purchasing power.

"We've been helped by our increasing volumes and broad menu offering. The complexity of our menu has allowed us to steer around product groups that are giving us a headache."

He added: "So far we've actually made progess on margins, and we expect to maintain the full-year margin."

It opened four new outlets in the first half, including one in Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport. Mr Kossoff said that trading had been affected by the botched opening of the terminal and the delay in transferring long-haul passengers.

He said he was not part of a claim for compensation by Geronimo Inns, a rival chain with an outlet in T5 and was “happy with the way BA have responded”.

Carluccio’s will open its 38th outlet in Cambridge at the end of this month and has secured two further sites in Bristol and Leicester. Mr Kossoff said: “We still believe there’s a national opportunity.”

Paul Hickman, a leisure analyst at KBC Peel Hunt, said: “Carluccio’s differentiates becuase of its informalilty combined with quality. We think the brand will lead the next upswing in eating out and ncould become iconic on the scale of PizzaExpress.”

Stephen Gee, the group's executive chairman, said: "We are pleased to have made good progress during the period despite the widely publicised pressures on consumer spending. It is likely, however, that trading conditions will remain challenging.

"The board believes that our multi-faceted business model will prove beneficial in such times and we look forward to the future with confidence."

Shares of Carluccio's were off 1.75p at 148.75p in early afternoon trading.

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