Westlife Development Q1 loss narrows to Rs 2.9 cr

Westlife Development Ltd (WDL), owner of the master franchisee of McDonald's restaurants in India, on Friday reported a loss of Rs 2.9 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, due to better same-store sales and cost efficiencies.

The company had reported a net loss of Rs 4.8 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year.

Total revenue for the quarter rose 10.9 per cent to Rs 229.8 crore riding on its restaurants expansion, the company said in a statement issued here.

"Topline performance growth was driven by restaurant network expansion in the existing and new cities and by significant increase in accruals from new formats and brand extensions and innovative menu additions," WDL Vice-Chairman Amit Jatia said.

He said the June quarter results represent a tremendous start to the year with 10.9 per cent revenue growth and 3.4 per cent comparable sales, bolstered by the successful launch of several new product.

"We are thoughtfully pursuing big bets and building exciting new platforms, that position us well for long term growth; we will continue to make small but meaningful strides against our Vision 2022 strategy," Jatia added.

During the quarter, WDL entered two new states Andhra Pradesh and Goa to further broaden its accessibility across west and south India.

It added six new restaurants in the quarter under review taking the total count to 242 restaurants across 32 cities and 10 states. WDL added two restaurants in Maharashtra and one each in Gujarat, AP, Goa and Karnataka.

"We are on track to double our restaurant base by 2022," he said.

WDL sustained its investments to increase the McCafe footprint, adding 14 McCafe locations in June quarter of this fiscal against 8 outlets in the same quarter of the previous year, taking the total count to 89.

"We continue to see strong growth in sales through its online and mobile platform. In the coming years, we will continue to invest in building these brand extensions to enhance the company's margin profile," Jatia added.