Restaurant Brands' net profit slumps 44%
Fast food franchiser says Christchurch earthquake can take almost half the blame for the sales slump.
Restaurant Brands says the Christchurch earthquake can take almost half the blame for its half-year sales slump.
The fast food franchiser has revealed a net profit of $8.6 million for the six months to September 12 -- down $5.3 million or 38% on the same time last year.
Sales fell $9.8 million or 5.5% to $166.8 million.
The Christchurch earthquake was estimated to have accounted for about $3.8 million of that loss.
Fifteen of the 19 stores closed after the earthquake had now reopened, but disruption to operations in the region had been severe, chief executive Russel Creedy said in a statement to the NZX.
Sales growth of $0.9 million at the flagship KFC stores helped offset the $9.2 million decline in Pizza Hut and $1.5 million decline at Starbucks Coffee.
Weaker sales and higher input costs saw margins slumped across all three brands.
Same store sales were down 3.5%, mainly from a lower performance from Pizza Hut where EBITDA fell $2.1 million or 66.9%.
Although the company had seen some positive growth signs around the Rugby World Cup, particularly in the KFC business, sustainability of that growth was uncertain.
Pressures on sales and margins remained as the economic downturn persisted, Mr Creedy said.
“Whilst the impact of the GST increase will have rolled over from October 1, consumer sentiment remains bearish and retail sales uncertain.”
Net profit for the full-year was expected to be in the vicinity of $20 million.
Shares in Restaurant Brands – one of the best performers on the share market last year – were trading at $2.16 this morning.
Shareholders will receive a fully tax-paid interim dividend of 6.5 cents per share on November 25.
Georgina Bond
Wed, 19 Oct 2011
Wed, 19 Oct 2011
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Restaurant Brands' net profit slumps 44%
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