Westlife Development narrows Q2 loss to Rs 3.3 cr; revenue up

Westlife Development (WDL), the master franchisee for US fast-food chain McDonald's in the west and south India, narrowed loss to Rs 3.3 crore in the quarter ended September 30 from Rs 9.4 crore in the same period last year.
Revenue for the quarter under review stood at Rs 234.29 crore, up 15.6 per cent year-on-year.
WDL operates the McDonald's chain of outlets in the two regions through its subsidiary Hardcastle Restaurants.
Westlife Development Vice-Chairman Amit Jatia said, "WDL is re-balancing its growth model and transforming way to operate to deliver immediate key priorities while ensuring progress on its journey towards strong, sustainable and profitable growth in line with our Vision 2022."

During the quarter under review, the company sharpened focus on the consumer relevance of McDonald's brand, invested more in research and reshaped the organisation for greater efficiency and deeper expertise, he said in a statement.
"Over the past five quarters, we have been making the changes necessary to take up the challenges of a new and ever -changing world."

At the same time, the company has enhanced its knowledge capabilities to protect and grow our businesses, and have moved towards an optimal combination of more agility and discipline in our resource allocation and decision processes, resulting in lower losses, Jatia said.

The restaurant chain operator, however, has shown comparable sales growth of 6.5 per cent over five consecutive quarters, he said.
The statement said over the mid and long term, WDL will continue to invest to strengthen the McDonald's brand and drive innovation across menu and digital platforms to enhance customer experience while creating value for its stakeholders, employees, consumers, customers, suppliers and shareholders.
WDL added 30 more restaurants Y-o-Y, three of them in the quarter under review, taking its total network of outlets to 245 across west and south India.
The company is on track to take its restaurant footprint to 450-500 by 2022, the statement added.