SINGAPORE (May 26): Restaurant chain Japan Foods reported a 23.3% rise in FY17 earnings to $4.7 million, or 2.68 cents per share, from a year ago on record revenue.
Total sales came in 4.2% higher at $65.5 million. Japan Foods says the performance was driven mainly by its three newest brands, namely New ManLee Bak Kut Teh, Dutch Baby Cafe and Ginza Kushi-Katsu brands.
Profit margin rose 0.7 percentage points to 84.9% from 84.2%.
For 4Q, earnings grew 20.2% to $0.6 million mainly due to lower one-time impairment charge on plant and equipment in relation to store closures as compared to the same quarter a year ago.
Takahashi Kenichi, Executive Chairman and CEO of Japan Foods, says: “The F&B sector in Singapore is extremely challenging. Not only do we face rising rental, raw materials and manpower costs every year, we also have to contend with new players and new concepts to try and stay ahead of the competition.”
The board has proposed a final dividend of 1.25 cents.
