‎“Americana” profits decreased to SR218 mln during Q1, by 19%‎

The net profit after zakat and tax of Americana International Restaurants Company plc decreased to 218 million riyals during the first quarter, compared to 270 million riyals in the same quarter of last year, by 19%. This came after today’s announcement of the preliminary financial results for the period ending in 2023-03-31 ( 3 months).

The operational profit amounted to 248 million riyals in the first quarter, compared to 308 million riyals in the same quarter of the previous year, a decrease of 20%.

As for the total profit, it amounted to 1.12 billion riyals in the first quarter, compared to 1.15 billion riyals in the same quarter of the previous year, with a decrease of 3%.

Earnings per share in the current period amounted to 0.03 riyals, compared to 0.03 riyals in the same period last year.

The company said that after its strong performance during the fiscal year 2022, Americana Restaurants continued to enhance its performance during the year 2023, as revenues increased to $ 589.4 million for the first quarter, an increase of 2.1% on an annual basis. Despite the partial seasonal change to the start of the holy month of Ramadan in the first quarter of the year 2023 compared to its start in the second quarter of the year 2022, in addition to the depreciation of the currency in Egypt and Lebanon, the company achieved good growth in revenues on an annual basis.

Net profit for the first quarter (attributable to shareholders of the parent company) declined by 19.2% to $58.1 million from $72.0 million, due to commodity price inflation and lower sales volumes in March due to the month of Ramadan.

The company achieved strong performance, on a comparative basis, especially with the advent of the month of Ramadan, when families and friends tend to visit and enjoy home meals, more than eating out or ordering food. It is expected that price inflationary pressures will ease in the second half of 2023.

The reason for the increase (decrease) in net profit during the current quarter compared to the previous quarter is due to a decline in revenues by 3.0% compared to SAR 607.5 million in the last quarter of 2022.

Net profit (attributable to shareholders of the parent company) for the first quarter of 2023 decreased by 8.3% to $58.1 million compared to $63.4 million, due to the seasonal effect of Ramadan.

During the first quarter of 2023, the company added 49 new restaurants to its restaurant group. As of March 31, 2023, Americana Restaurants had 2,228 restaurants, with 63 new restaurants under construction.

On March 28, 2023, Americana Restaurants held its first annual general assembly meeting, where the shareholders approved the distribution of dividends of $0.0123 per share for the second half of the year 2022, as the total dividends distributed for this half amounted to $103.5 million.