SINGAPORE (May 14): The Covid-19 outbreak has caused restaurant operator Jumbo Group to suffer a 71.5% y-o-y drop in earnings to $2.1 million for its 1HFY20 ended March 31. Revenue in the same period was down 13.1% y-o-y to $66.7 million.
“The last few months have proved to be the most challenging periods for Jumbo since the group was established 33 years ago,” says group CEO and executive director Ang Kiam Meng.
Ten out of its 16 outlets are temporarily closed. The remaining six outlets are getting by with takeaways and delivers.
Naturally, Jumbo’s revenue this period will be “substantially” lower than same period last year.
Jumbo will enjoy some rental rebates for April and May but even then, its bottom line is also seen to be “significantly” lower.
The company has “little visibility” on how long and how severe this pandemic will last.
To conserve cash, Jumbo will not pay an interim dividend. This time last year, it paid 0.5 cent per share.
On May 14, Jumbo Group closed a cent lower at 24 cents. Year to date, the share price has dropped 38.5%. The company is now valued at 13.42 times historical earnings and has a market capitalisation of $157.3 million.
