Shakey’s nets P173M

Shakey’s Pizza Parlor Restaurant along CM Recto at Limketkai Center, Cagayan de Oro City. (PHOTO CREDIT: https://www.cdodev.com/2013/07/04/new-shakeys-store-nears-completion/)

The country’s leading pizza parlor chain operator Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. grew net profit in the first quarter by 26 percent year-on-year to P173 million on stronger sales and improved operating efficiency.

System-wide store sales, a combination of company-owned and franchise store sales, grew by 22 percent year-on-year to P2 billion for the first quarter, SPAVI disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Excluding the impact of newly opened stores, same store sales grew by 11.6 percent year-on-year for the first quarter as in-store head count and average checks increased.

The restaurant operator was also able to improve on its profitability as margins for gross profit and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) expanded by 530 basis points to 29.9 percent and 170 basis points to 19.6 percent, respectively.

As a result, gross profit and cash flow as measured by EBITDA grew by 52 percent and 37 percent, respectively.

SPAVI – which trades on the PSE under the ticker PIZZA – attributed the growth to favorable commodity prices and purchasing synergies following its consolidation into the Century Pacific Group, which took over majority control of this business in April of last year.

“We are pleased with the robust first quarter numbers, particularly the double-digit same-store sales growth owing primarily to the success of our ‘2017 meal deal’ promotion. The first quarter is typically a lean season for our business so we are glad that the combined results of marketing programs and successful store openings have delivered the desired results. While growth may moderate in the coming months, we are firmly on track to meet our full year targets especially considering the seasonality of our business,where we usually see an increase in consumer spending towards the year end,” said Vicente Gregorio, SPAVI president and chief executive officer.

For the first quarter of 2017, SPAVI added five new stores to its network, bringing total store count to 189. It targets a total of 20 new outlets by year-end, hoping to close the year with 204 stores.