Restaurant Brands' net profit grew 36.6% to $35.5m
Its KFC business in Australia delivered a strong performance with sales up $54.7 million.
The past year has seen successful execution of Restaurant Brands’ major growth strategies as the company continued to expand its global reach through the acquisition of additional KFC stores in Australia and the settlement of the Hawaiian acquisition.
The continued expansion into the Australian market with the acquisition of an additional 18 KFC stores in New South Wales, brought total store numbers there to 61.
Integration of the recently acquired Australian stores and the Hawaiian business into the wider Restaurant Brands Group has been relatively seamless with local management aligned with and actively pursuing the company’s growth strategies in each of their individual markets.
Restaurant Brands has produced a net profit after tax for the period ended 26 February 2018 of $35.5 million, up 36.6% on the reported NPAT of $26.0 million for the prior year.
Chairman Ted van Arkel said, “This level of profitability is a new record for the company and more importantly the growth is not only coming out of new acquisitions as existing operations are also delivering solid results.”
Total brand sales for the Group were a record $740.8 million, up $243.6 million or 49.0% on FY17 with the benefit of $167.5 million in additional sales generated from PIR in Hawaii from 7 March 2017.
KFC operations in Australia delivered a strong performance with sales up $54.7 million, from both organic growth and the acquisition of 18 stores during the year. The New Zealand business also delivered record sales of $421.4 million, up 5.4%.
Ted van Arkel added, “The board and I are delighted with the progress of Restaurant Brands towards its stated target of $1 billion in annual revenues. Sales have almost doubled over the past two years and there is every indication of continued momentum of sales growth.”
Restaurant Brands’ store numbers now total 314, comprising 171 in New Zealand, 82 in Hawaii and 61 stores in Australia.
In $A terms, total sales for the KFC business in Australia were $A139.5 million, up A$47.1 million (or an increase of 50.9%) on last year. This was a function of both the full impact of the acquisition of QSR Pty Limited which only became effective partway through FY17 and increased store numbers following the acquisition of the business assets of five stores at the start of this financial year and a further 13 stores in the second half of FY18.
As part of the Australian market expansion strategy, over the FY18 year Restaurant Brands acquired the business assets of 18 KFC stores in New South Wales at a total price of $A46.5 million. Five stores were acquired in March 2017 and the remainder were acquired between October 2017 and January 2018.
According to the company's outlook, Restaurant Brands is not anticipating any significant change in the economic and competitive environment or unusual costs in the new financial year. With a consistent performance from the existing store network and the full year effect of the additional stores acquired in Australia in the second half of the 2018 financial year, directors expect the company will deliver a NPAT (excluding non-trading items) result for the new financial year of at least 10% above current year’s results.
