India's Barbeque-Nation posts second consecutive quarterly loss

United Foodbrands

06/11/2023 09:56

BENGALURU, Nov 6 (Reuters) - India's Barbeque-Nation
Hospitality  BARQ.NS  on Monday reported a loss for a second
straight quarter, hurt by slowing demand and rising expenses.
    The restaurant chain posted a consolidated net loss of 123.7
million rupees ($1.5 million) for the three months ended Sept.
30, compared to a loss of 43.1 million rupees last quarter.
    The company had posted a profit of 70.9 million rupees in
the year-ago period.
    Indian food companies have been battling slowing customer
footfall as high inflation is causing consumers to curb
discretionary spending.
    India's retail inflation remained above the Reserve Bank of
India's 2%-6% tolerance for most of the reporting quarter, and
eased to 5.02% only in September.
    To offset this, Barbeque-Nation launched promotional offers
including "early bird sales" on beverages and food to increase
sales.
    The company said in a statement it saw a "seasonally weak
quarter impacted by vegetarian only days."
    Its same store sales - a key metric of performance - fell
10.7% year-on-year, while its total revenue fell 2.8%. The
company added four stores and closed four others in the period.
    It added that it would look at cost optimization ways to
improve same stores sales growth in the second half of the
fiscal.
    Barbeque-Nation's expenses rose 2%, dragged higher employee
benefit expenses and occupancy costs, which more than offset a
2.5% decline in cost of food and beverages.
    Shares of Barbeque Nation fell 2.5% at 631.9 rupees after
the results, with a trading volume of 1.7x its 30-day average.
    Rivals Westlife Foodworld  WEST.NS  and Sapphire Foods India
 SAPI.NS  previously posted fall in profits, while Dominos Pizza
franchisee Jubilant FoodWorks  JUBI.NS  beat Q2 profit estimates
as cheaper pizzas helped demand.

($1 = 83.1950 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru; Editing by
Varun H K)
 ((AshnaTeresa.Britto@thomsonreuters.com;))