Nando’s has said it will step up its restaurant opening plans after sales lifted further over the past year.

The peri-peri chicken chain said sales surpassed pre-pandemic levels after “strong customer demand”.

Full accounts for the latest financial year also show the business cut its losses despite a “challenging” cost environment.

Rob Papps, group chief executive of Nando’s, said the economic backdrop remains “uncertain” but it is pushing forward with more investment to drive growth.

This will include a raft of new restaurants over the current financial year, including 14 in the UK. These include sites that have already opened in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Doncaster, Taplow, Bognor, Watford, Northampton and Belfast.

In the financial year to February 2024, the hospitality chain opened 17 restaurants, with 11 of these in the UK and Ireland.

Nando’s said the latest growth plans come after a positive first quarter of its 2024-25 financial year, where it was “extremely encouraged by customer demand”.

However, it stressed cost inflation has stayed at “elevated levels”, highlighting it is still seeking to address its costs across the business.

It came as the group reported revenues grew by 7.5% to £1.37 billion for the year to February 25, compared with the previous year.

Nando’s said it made £86.6 million of capital investment over the year, as it opened more stores and refurbished a number of restaurants.

The accounts also showed Nando’s reduced its pre-tax losses to £50.1 million for the year, from a £86.2 million loss a year earlier.

However, the group reported an operating profit of £59.8 million for the year.

Mr Papps said: “The 2024 financial year saw Nando’s deliver a good sales performance and a return to pre-pandemic levels of operating profit driven by robust consumer demand for our flame-grilled peri-peri chicken supported by our strong brand and customer proposition.

“Despite the improved sales performance, ongoing cost pressure with energy, labour and food remained very challenging.