Romanian restaurant group Sphera sees 6.6% higher sales in the first quarter

Sphera Franchise Group (SFG), one of the biggest restaurant operators in Romania, recorded restaurant sales of RON 211.4 million (EUR 43 mln) in the first quarter of 2021, 1.5% higher than in Q4 2020 and 6.6% higher compared to Q1 2020. The growth was supported by the solid performance of KFC Romania, Taco Bell Romania, and KFC Moldova.

The group’s normalized EBITDA (excluding the impact of IFRS 16) went up 271% compared to the same period of the previous year to RON 13.1 million (EUR 2.7 mln), and the EBITDA margin was 6.2%. Sphera thus recorded a net profit of RON 469,000 in Q1, compared to RON 9.55 mln losses in the same period of 2020.

“The first quarter of 2021 was the best quarter of the Sphera Group on the Romanian market since the beginning of the pandemic, in terms of restaurant sales. The result is even more remarkable as it shows an increase in sales of over 6% compared to the same period of the last year when only two weeks were affected by restrictions. In these first three months of the current year, we focused on increasing sales through partnerships with online ordering platforms, dedicated offers for the delivery and Drive-Thru channels, as well as by continuing investments in expanding the restaurant network in Romania and Italy. We are confident that, as restrictions are lifted due to the expansion of the national vaccination campaign, which we also support at the Group level, we will be able to open the restaurants at full capacity, which will also lead to increased sales," said Calin Ionescu, Chief Executive Officer of Sphera Franchise Group.

“We maintain our ambitious budget estimates for 2021, based on the gradual recovery of sales during 2021. Q1 2021 was an excellent quarter given the circumstances. We expect that starting with H2 2021, we will resume our activity as close as possible to normal. Consequently, we estimate RON 1,158 million in restaurant sales in 2021, RON 150.5 million in restaurant operating profit, and a normalized EBITDA, excluding the impact of IFRS 16, of RON 95 million. We expect that delivery sales will continue to have a significant share in total sales in 2021, of approximately 25%,” added Valentin Budes, Chief Financial Officer of Sphera.

The SFG shares went up 1.78% on the Bucharest Stock Exchange on Monday morning, after the company released its financial report for Q1. Since the beginning of this year, the company’s shares are up 17%. Shera’s market capitalization is currently RON 667 mln (EUR 136 mln).

(Photo source: the company)