The tide has turned at restaurant and fishmonger chain Fishworks, which has just hooked first annual profits for the year to July.

Fishworks managed to make pre-tax profits of £226,000 from continuing operations, after disentangling from its operations at the Harvey Nichols department store. This set-up marked a departure from Fishworks’ successful format and chief executive Mitch Tonks explained that, as losses at the store had continued to build, a quick exit was thought necessary.

Of the standard, successful, outlets – where a small fishmonger section opens up to a stylish and non-malodourous restaurant – there are currently 12, after post-year end additions in fashionable Notting Hill and Chelsea. Stripping out the effect of the World Cup, like-for-like sales were up 7.4% last year – Fishworks is forever trawling for new sites, of which plenty are available. Three further openings are intended this year and four next.

Sales were up 41% to £7.6m, compared to a previous 17-month period, and net debt stands at £2.3m. In line with others in the restaurant trade, Fishworks profit margins are high, despite the mix of retail from the fishmonger stalls, at 68%. To raise margins further, the vertical acquisition was made in January of a fish wholesaler in Devon, whose impact was only felt for a month and half. But, enthuses Tonks, ‘we’re now starting to see the opportunities and benefits are far greater than we originally anticipated,’ including greater efficiencies, centralised distribution, transport savings, added-value goods and internet fulfilment.

Analysts are forecasting profits of £2.2m this year and 4.8p of earnings, meaning Fishworks is cheap as chips on a p/e of less than ten. However, management will need to deliver on those numbers before the group can attract a loftier rating. The price has been floating between 40p and 45p for almost a year and a half – so don’t expect it to leap just yet. Hold.