Hit by Covid-19, Westlife Development posts net loss of Rs 57.5 cr in Q1

Westlife Development Ltd on Thursday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 57.56 crore for the quarter ended June 2020, hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Westlife Development owns Hardcastle Restaurants -- the master franchisee of McDonald's for west and south India.

The company had posted a net profit ofRs 6.44 crore in the April-June period a year ago, Westlife Development Ltd said in a BSE filing.

Sales dropped 75.38 per cent to Rs 93.60 crore during the period under review as against Rs 380.26crorein the corresponding quarter of 2019-20.

Operating costs and expenses were at Rs 133.98crore, as against Rs 330.60 crore earlier.

During the quarter, the company said it undertook moves to mitigate the long-term impact of COVID-19. It activated its omni-channel strategy and launched contactless take-out service to facilitate contactless ordering and pick-up of orders.

It also launched the unique 'on-the-go' service enabling contactless ordering and collection of the order from customers' vehicles. With this, it virtually converted all its restaurants into drive-through stores at minimal cost, the company added.

"As a result, the company started seeing green shoots in the business starting June 2020, as the lock-down started easing in select markets," it said.

Take-out and drive-through channels showed great results, as sales from these platforms bounced back to pre-COVID levels for operational stores.

"Per day per store McDelivery sales bounced back to 70 per cent of pre-COVID levels and daily take-out sales from operational stores surged 1.7 times vis-a-vis pre-COVID levels," it said.

Despite the extraordinary challenges, the company completed ongoing projects, taking the total count of McDonald's restaurants and McCafe to 320 and 224 respectively, it added.

Shares of Westlife Development Ltd settled at Rs354.70on BSE, down 0.71 per cent.