Aramark, the US catering and services giant that last year bought Avoca Handweavers, has provided the first details of the financial performance of the Irish luxury goods company under its new, multinational ownership.

In its third quarter results briefing on Wednesday, Aramark told investors Avoca had generated sales of about $16 million in the three months to the end of June. It said it expects Avoca to generate about $50 million in sales in the nine months up to the end of next month.

Aramark told investors it was excluding Avoca’s $16 million quarterly revenues and an associated “$0.5 million loss”, which it did not explain further, from its official accounts for its first year of ownership.

Aramark Ireland executives were unavailable for comment on Friday to shed further light on the figures.

The sales level revealed by Aramark to investors this week is roughly equivalent to the sales Avoca achieved before the takeover. Aramark is planning to grow the business by financing an international expansion of the chain.

Started in textiles

Aramark, which employs 6,000 people in Ireland in contract catering and associated services, bought Avoca from the Pratt family for more than €50 million. Donald Pratt and his wife founded Avoca in the 1970s as a textiles business, operating from the boot of their car.

Aramark is believed to have beaten off competition from others, including Dunnes Stores, to buy Avoca.

A token portion of the sale price was split between certain staff, while the bulk was split between the Pratt siblings and their parents who owned the business.

Since Aramark took control, it has sold some of Avoca’s textiles operation in Co Wicklow back to members of the Pratt family.

Simon Pratt has agreed to stay on as managing director of Avoca for a period under Aramark’s ownership.

Aramark, which has 270,000 employees worldwide, reported quarterly sales of $3.6 billion on Wednesday, beating analysts’ expectations.