not vested
Cafe de Coral serves up price hike by Kate Lin
Local fast food chain Cafe de Coral (0341) announced a price hike of 2 to 3 percent for the fiscal year ended in March next year after posting a disappointing interim result.
Management said they have already lifted prices by 1 to 1.5 percent in the past half year, mainly due to the increased cost of raw materials and labor.
Cafe de Coral's profit from April to September fell 14.7 percent to HK$207.4 million from a year back. Earnings per share were 35.95 HK cents. An interim dividend of 18 HK cents was proposed.
Its turnover rose 2.79 percent to HK$3.73 billion while gross profit dropped 2.46 percent to HK$458 million.
The result was largely due to an economic slowdown, as well as weaker retail sentiment, the group said. Last year's Occupy movement was blamed for the slow recovery of restaurants located in prime locations. The same store sales grew 4 percent in the SAR.
Chief financial officer Mike Lim Hung-chun said as the leasing market in the SAR is becoming stable, the group which had 158 Cafe de Coral outlets at the end of September will still target opening 30 more stores within the fiscal year.
The group's other brands such as Oliver's Super Sandwiches recorded positive growth. In southern China, Cafe de Coral's fast food catering business was flat and the same store sales slid 4.7 percent.
The group will drop its previous target of opening 20 more restaurants as it has recorded only a single-digit growth in the number of new starts for the past six months.
Its shares closed at HK$25.55, down 5.37 percent.
Source: The Standard