Restaurant and clothing entrepreneur Richard Caring has built up a 3 per cent stake in Carluccio’s, the Italian restaurant group.

It is not presently clear whether or not Caring, who owns The Ivy and Le Caprice restaurants in London, intends to make a bid for the chain.

Carluccio’s also published its interim results for the 26 weeks to 25 March yesterday (15 March), which stated that the company’s turnover had climbed 20 per cent to £25.9m.

Profit before tax jumped 148 per cent to £2.4m and EBITDA increased by 26 per cent to £3.2m.

The company also announced that it has already opened three stores this year and intends to open three more by the end of the financial year.