Catering group Campbell Bewley is seeking an injunction to prevent an Anglo-American venture capital company which holds 15 per cent of its stock from blocking its purchase of a US cafe and restaurant business for around $20 million.

The case, which was listed for a hearing at the High Court yesterday, was not heard because no judge was available.

Bewleys yesterday reported a 50 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £4.4 million (€5.59 million) last year from £2.96 million. Sales rose 18 per cent to £180 million in the year.

The group's chief executive, Mr Dan Cronin, said the venture capital group Granville Baird had blocked the proposed deal in the US because it was seeking to divest its shareholding in Bewleys. A Gravill Baird spokeswoman in London declined to comment on the case.

Bewley's chairman Mr Patrick Campbell, said the group was seeking acquisitions in the US especially and in Britain.

Two acquisitions early last year had contributed to the rise in profit margins, the group's chief financial officer, Mr John Cahill, said. A British vending machine-based industrial catering business, Arabica, was acquired for £6 million sterling and Bewleys spent £500,000 sterling on Top Chef, a Northern Ireland contract catering operation. The group invested £9.8 million in its business last year and relocated its administrative base and bakery to a new plant at the Northern Cross estate between Darndale and Malahide in north Co Dublin.

Mr Campbell said a businessman, Mr Bert Allen, who owns two Bewleys' franchise hotels at Ballsbridge and Newlands Cross, west Dublin, was planning to open similar outlets in Glasgow and Leeds. The group reported "good growth" in trading at its cafes in Blanchardstown, west Dublin, and Jervis Street in the city centre. A £1.5 million renovation of its Westmoreland Street cafe was completed last March.

While Bewleys had attempted to introduce a full waiter service in part of its Grafton Street cafe, this was withdrawn last year due to a shortage of staff and because customer volumes were too low. The group was encountering difficulty in recruitment but less than before, Mr Campbell said. Its staff retention rate had improved due to rising wages and changes in its management system.

The strength of the dollar was causing wholesale coffee prices to rise and sterling's strength was having a similar affect on tea prices, he added. Retail sales of tea and coffee rose 4 per cent last year and the group claimed the profitability of this business rose by 21 per cent.