Sphera Franchise Group S.A. (SFG) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Audio Gap] value of 7.5% and the previous quarter value of 7.7%. The dilution of the weight of our rental expenses in total revenue is a combined effect of the fixed rent dilution, and the fact that some restaurants were reaching the sales threshold that activates the variable rent in our contracts. The next cost line is the advertising expenses. We have invested in marketing during the first 6 months of 2022 around RON 32 million, representing 5.3% of sales in line with our commitment. Now other operating cost line with expenditure in the first semester of RON 89 million and the weight in revenue of 14.7%, almost in line versus similar period of last year, with a difference of only 0.2 percentage points. The main 2 cost lines here are aggregator commissions and utilities. Aggregator commissions increased by 15.6% versus the previous year first semester due to aggregator sales increase. However, in the first semester of this year, the weight of aggregator commission in net sales decreased with 0.8 percentage points versus last year from 5% to 4.2%. The other main component, as described, is represented by utilities that increased with RON 10 million, mainly due to higher energy costs with an unit cost increase more than 80% year-over-year. Other increases versus previous year were purely triggered by activity volume increase, and we can observe them in cleaning, maintenance and transport cost line. Now some color on our G&A expenses, where we have recorded a decrease of the G&A, sharing the consolidated sales with 1.4 percentage points from 5.7% in 2021, similar period to 4.4% this year. Regarding the finance cost, there is an increase in the first semester versus the previous year of RON 3.2 million as a combined effect of higher debt balance versus last year, having a cost effect of RON 2 million out of this RON 3.2 million, and foreign exchange losses of RON 1.2 million, mainly USD related. Moving on to the balance sheet. It's worth mentioning the very solid cash position of almost RON 80 million at the end of June 2022. The performance achieved along with no influence on our ambitious development activity which was executed according to the plan. And that's why our strong free cash flow generation will allow us to continue our long-term strategy. Now I will move on the next slide, where we have, as usual, the bars related to our revenue expenses and EBITDA. We are delighted to see the magnitude of our sales evolution. As already mentioned and visible on the brand performance section of our presentation later, it is all mentioning again that we have recorded a solid same-store performance as well. Sales increases both in -- versus the first semester of the previous year with the run of RON 123 million, 28.2%, and even versus the first semester of 2019 with RON 115 million by 25.9%. All this increase is a very healthy one, as it is mainly fueled by the robust transaction increase. Unfortunately, in this challenging inflationary environment, the expenses, as already described in the first slide, grew faster than the sales, and as a result, EBITDA decreased to around 21.2% for our first semester. However, EBITDA in Q2 was almost in line with the same period of last year. The negative variance is carryforward of Q1 '22 modest performance. Next slide talks about the share of our markets and brands. As usually, Romania, our main market, with a share of 87%, and Italy, which, despite being severely impacted by the lockdown measures from the beginning of the year in the first quarter, secured a market share of 12%, with double-digit top line performance. Regarding brands in the first semester, KFC brought revenue in total amount of RON 570 million with a share of 85%. Pizza Hut, almost RON 60 million on with almost 10% share, and Taco Bell with almost RON 32 million, i.e., 5.2% share. All the brands had a positive evolution. Our group registered a profitable evolution in Q2, having a significant increase in net profit versus the previous quarter of RON 13.1 million. Furthermore, both KFC and Moldova closed the first semester profitable. Looking on each quarter contribution in the first semester sales, we can notice that the Q2 representing more than 50% in total sales, which is the proof of the continuous sales recovery after lifting the COVID-19 restriction. Next, some updates related to COVID-19 restrictions and some fiscal updates. As of 9 of March, Romania has lifted all the COVID-19 restrictions, which have been in place since 25th of October last year, requiring the position of COVID-19 Green Certificate for being able to enter into restaurants. Therefore, as of 9 of March, both vaccinated and unvaccinated customers can enter shopping malls and restaurants. The restriction in Italy were loosed as of 1st of April and lifted as of 1st of May -- until May 1st, to eat in the restaurant. The customers were obliged to hold the super green certificate which proved full vaccination, including a booster, or recovery from COVID-19 within the last 6 months. In Moldova, the restrictions have been removed starting 24th of April Q1, being fully affected. Related to state aid, we have the technical unemployment that I was referring on the first slide. We had no technical unemployment in Q2, as the reimbursement facility from the state was no more available. However, during Q1, we had only 1% of our Romanian staff under this status. In Italy and Moldova, there was no technical unemployment. Consequently, in H1, the compensating value was very limited to the amount already mentioned of RON 154,000 which is lower with RON 2.3 million versus the similar period of last year compensation amount. Regarding the rent discounts, the first 6 months of this year offered lower opportunities for rent negotiation. And as a result, these discounts were not substantially compared with the last year when for the same period we were able to receive discounts worth of RON 2.10 million. Now speaking a little bit on fiscal update. It is worth mentioning the change of the social securities for the part-time contracts, starting with 1st of April this year. More specific, the social contribution due by an employee, either full or part time, cannot be lower than the ones applied for the minimum gross salary. Since in our operating ecosystem, the part-time agreements are quite utilized, we estimate an annualized unfavorable impact of around RON 1 million from this fiscal modification. Another change is related to the specific tax for HoReCa which will be no more applicable starting 1st of January next year. We understand that the tax payers from this business line may opt for the application of 1% tax on turnover, or move to the profit tax regime. We estimate a full year unfavorable impact of around RON 4 million. However, a more accurate estimation of the impact will be able to perform once the implementation details will be published. In terms of VAT, relevant for our industry, for HoReCa industry, starting with 1st of January 2023, again, like the previous one, there will be an increase of VAT rate for restaurants, also for catering services and accommodation from 5% to 9%, and an increase in VAT rate for the non-alcoholic beverages containing added sugar or other sweeteners or flavorings, from 9% to 19%. As mentioned, at this moment, no implementation standards are available for the tax changes which are applicable starting 1st of January 2023. We are working to see them publish and to reevaluate the impact on our business. Going forward, we present the evolution on our development plan. At the end of the first semester, we were operating 174 restaurants with the following split; 152 in Romania, 20 in Italy and 2 in Republic of Moldova. In H1 2022, we had opened 5 new restaurants so far, 2 KFC, 2 Pizza Hut and on Taco Bell. 1 Pizza Hut restaurant was closed in Q2, the one in AFI Cotroceni Mall, triggered by location and profitability reinforced by the expiration of both franchise license and rental contract. From a development point of view, the guidance for the remaining part of the year, which is in line with the financial guidance that we'll see together later in the slides, we have the following structure for KFC in Romania: probably 1 in Q3 and 3 in Q4, and 1 extra Taco Bell in Q4. In the past, I mentioned quite often that the development activity is highly dependent on the permits and bureaucracy of the local authorities. Just to have the magnitude of the effort in this direction, in this moment, we have a pipeline of another 10 restaurants which are work in progress, in different stages. Regarding labor, the labor market for HoReCa, it's more and more challenging. Many employees decided to requalify to other sectors or to migrate to less labor-intensive jobs. Nevertheless, at the end of June, we had 5,230 employees, out of which 4,000 -- almost 4,900 in Romania, 260 in Italy and 85 in Moldova. Also, to cover our business needs, we continue to hire people from Sri Lanka, having more than 200 employees at the end of the first semester. Moving on the next slide, we have some updates related to capital markets. As mentioned in the previous call, starting with 21st of March, our group was included in the Russell Microcap Index. It's triggering better liquidity in the market and a better visibility among the local and global community of investors. We are proud to be able to maintain our inclusion, as the revaluation of the eligibility criteria has just taken place. From a sustainability point of view, there are 2 events worth mentioning. First of all, in July 2022, we have published a sustainability report covering the years 2020 and 2021. And secondly, as part of our ongoing commitment to the environment, over 100 headquarter employees volunteered for 1-day trash removal in Raioasa Forest in Sabareni, Ilfov County. On 3rd of June, we had obtained the food safety certification, ISO 22000, which sets all the requirements for our food safety management system, for all the organization in the food industry, regardless of their size. Last but not least, we paid dividends amounting of RON 35 million from the undistributed net profit of 2020, fixing the gross dividend per share of RON 0.9. And now we have these slides with some words into the guidance for the second quarter. As Calin mentioned in the beginning, we just published a new annual guidance which is the result of the current situation because, as we were just finishing the navigation of the last year of 2021, throughout mainly challenges related to unpredictable COVID evolution, 2022 came with a different set of challenges like supply chain disruption, unseen level of inflation, geopolitical context, record levels for interest rates. So as a result, the pressure on the cost side grew extremely up at the pace that we have never seen before. In our initial budget, we have embedded an inflationary impact based on the estimates available at that time, Romania National Bank analyst consensus on inflation. Our new guidance includes a significant adjustment on food and material cost mainly, resulting in an increase of the weight in sales with 2.3 percentage points. Our guidance assumes no major COVID disruptions as the revised budget sales are estimated to vary between minus 6% and 1.4% higher than the budget -- initial budget. In terms of delivery channel, our estimation for the remaining part of the year is in line with the actual trend of Q2, showing the stabilization both on aggregators and on delivery channels, and an increase on dining channel due to no new COVID restrictions assumed. As a result, the targeted EBITDA for this year, it's estimated to be between RON 70 million and RON 80 million, lower with the range of either 16% either 27% versus the approved budget plan. We'll continue to focus on cost optimization and control, as well as implementing a disciplined and measured pricing strategy in order to counterattack the inflationary negative effects and secure the margin. Now I will pass the floor to my colleague, Monica to give you some color on marketing and brand performance part of the business. Thank you very much. Monica?

Thank you, Vale, and good afternoon, everyone. As already mentioned, in Q2 2022, we delivered the strongest sales in Sphera's history, with revenues of RON 327.4 million and with a record same-store sales growth of 32% compared to Q2 2021. The team achieved this results through great execution of a well-balanced market in calendar that sustained brand buzz, distinctive product news and compelling value offerings. Next, I will share a few initiatives launch in the second quarter. And I will start with KFC which focused on strengthening its burger layer by successfully launching an innovative burger in Q2 called Zinger Mozzarella. The communication campaign resulted in strong same-store sales growth and an increase in restaurant visits. We know that building a distinctive and relevant brand leads to higher sales, as we always say that we need to build brands over time and sales overnight. Therefore, in Q2, we launched a brand campaign focused on craving, an important asset for KFC and a key business driver for our category. We continued -- as mentioned in the last quarter, we continue our effort to reinforce the value for money perception by communicating again the Tuesday Bucket through a 360 campaign that drove traffic in our stores. As you know, KFC is a trusted and beloved brand in its category. And for our 25th year anniversary, we offered prices and discounts for both our customers and employees. Also, with the aim of increasing sales and reinforcing the best tasting chicken attributes that we own, KFC launched Popcorn Chicken, a new core product which was communicated in digital using our social entertainment channel approach. Moving on to Pizza Hut. The brand continued its value journey in Q2 by launching Pepperoni, which is one of our most loved pizza recipes on our menu, but at a special price point with the objective of increasing transactions to attract new users and reinforcing our pizza expert attributes. In June, when all the restrictions were already lifted, we launched a repositioning campaign as the favorite pizza of Romanian families, with the objective of reversing the sales trend and bringing to life the power of the brand. By launching a clear territory for Pizza Hut, the brand will become more relevant, and for everyday occasions, increasing the brand power and the regular customer base, which we know is doing important in terms of traffic. As a secondary layer, the brand communicated value offers for both the dine-in and delivery channels, which resulted again in same-store sales growth. Moving on to Taco Bell. Taco Bell looked at product innovation in Q2, but also to add value. So we relaunched Chalupa, an innovative product with an affordable price point. And the objective was to build both consideration and trial for the brand. Again, moving on from -- moving from product to brand, our -- I've mentioned in previous calls, our aim is to build a cult brand for Taco Bell and also, obviously, to deliver strong sales. So in Q2, we launched a brand campaign which communicated its most important attributes in the category, it's distinctiveness of both to experience and products. And it was launched under the tagline, "nothing ordinary". Because we target young consumers who are active on social media, the brand launched is TIK TOK channel in Q2, adding to its ownable digital assets, with the aim of being closer to both the die-hard fans, but also early adopters. Moving on to digital. You know that this has been a priority for us for the past 2 years. We continue focusing on ease of access for our consumers, and we communicate both our Click & Collect and e-commerce platforms. In Q2, we also took price, because in the current economic climate, we had to protect the bottom line and absorb the increased cost of inputs, and we've done that for all of our brands in the portfolio. With the price increases, we also focused on value offerings in order to ensure continued traffic in restaurants. And now I will move on to our sales performance by brand. I'll start with KFC Romania. As already mentioned, Q2 was another strong quarter of growth for KFC in Romania as our store performance improved 37% year-on-year due to good like-for-like performance paired with the sales generated by the 6 new KFC restaurants that were open since Q3, 2021. Same-store performance for KFC Romania registered a 28% increase year-on-year. The brand has ended the H1 with EBITDA of RON 27.6 million and net profit of RON 12 million. KFC Italy, also performance registered 58% sales increase in Q2, 2022 versus same quarter previous year. While the like-for-like evolution was the best of all the group registering 57% sales increase. In Q2, KFC Italy registered a better performance versus the previous quarter, lowering the net loss with 36% despite increasing the sales just with 16%. Moving on to KFC in Moldova. Sales in the Republic of Moldova increased to 45% in Q2 year-on-year, reaching RON 4.5 million. The brand closed H1 profitable with EBITDA of RON 1.1 million and a net profit of RON 0.7 million. Pizza Hut continued the positive trend in Q2 2022, bearing sales, 46% year-on-year in terms of all store performance, due to good like-for-like performance of 36% paired with the sales generated by the 5 new openings starting Q3 2021. And last but not least, Taco Bell. Taco Bell's same-store performance in Q2 registered a 34% increase year-on-year, while all store performance saw a 40% increase. Between Q3 2021 and Q2 2022, Taco Bell opened 2 new restaurants. And the brand closed H1 2022 with EBITDA of RON 0.6 million. Thank you, Zuzanna, over to you.

Thank you so much, Monica. We have now concluded the management presentation of the results for the first half of the year. We are now opening the floor for questions. [Operator Instructions] We have just received the first question from one of our analysts. I'm going to read it out loud. Regarding the development plan, should we expect that the number of new restaurants will exceed the initial plan with Yum, and...?

I'll answer this. No, we will respect the agreement with Yum as it was said in the development agreement.

And in terms of magnitude, it is exactly as mentioned during the presentation, the forecasted number of stores until the end of the year.

We are going to wait for -- we just got the next question. I saw that you collected almost RON 1.2 million laid from other restaurant income, which are revenues from the franchise, as you mentioned? What values do we expect for other restaurant income for 2022 full year? Can you put more color on the loan for which you sell on the shareholders? So we have 2 questions here.

Yes. Regarding the RON 1.2 million other income, this is related to the last year development plan. Basically, it's an incentive that we have received from Yum, from the franchiser. And for -- there is no upcoming amount. So for the year, we will all stick with this amount. Basically, there are no other expectation in terms of other income for this year. We'll see, however, how we'll be able to end up the year and whatever further negotiations will materialize. And possibly next year there is another potential, but there is no clear expectation at this moment.

And then we have the question about the loans that were approved in the shareholder meeting.

The loans that were approved in the shareholder meeting, basically, it's related to the existing relation with our financing bank, which is Alpha Bank. There are roughly -- to cut the story short, there are 2 sides. On one hand, we have the extension of the loan, and on the other hand, we have an increase of the limit. Basically, we are entering into a revolving kind of investment facility with them, reason for which we reached the target the fact that we reach the threshold set by being able to have internal approvals versus shareholders one. So, I hope this gives you enough color related to this subject.

We have the next question. When do you expect Pizza Hut to become profitable?

Yes. I will start with this, and if something need to be an add-on, we'll see at the end. Pizza Hut, it's a very hot topic for us as well. As we know, it was an entire journey related to the evolution of the performance of this brand. There were quite significant numbers of initiatives meant to stabilize for the business and then to -- recalibrated towards the profitability. We can obviously see a progress there. However, it's not necessarily in line with our expectations, but we remain optimistic. And theoretically, if everything goes as expected by us with the effect of the initiatives already implemented, we need to see some positive trends on the next year.

Moving to the next question, do you plan any dividends for 2021?

I will talk on this...

We already paid some dividends in the first part of the year. We mentioned in the presentation.

Yes. And this is somehow put in the picture with the fact that there was a consistency in terms of our dividend distribution so far. Indeed, as I mentioned in the presentation, and just to reiterate by Calin, this year we had already the distribution. The -- another distribution dividend is clearly triggered by the evolution of the situation and our ability to secure the enough amount of cash to create a comfort of being able to do such an activity. However, in terms of capability per se, there is a retained earnings that offer us the possibility to do. It's just a calibration of cash flow with the evolution of the business. Yes, the dividends paid by us were mainly related to 2022 profit.

Thank you for the questions. We have up to 5 more minutes for the Q&A because we have another call in Romanian. As we mentioned on the previous call, we have introduced the call Romanian language to also allow our retail investors to join them to discuss in mother tongue. I see there's one more question we've just received. If the restructuring of Pizza Hut does not work as planned, do you see any scenario in which you close out Pizza Hut?

I would say in this moment, we don't yet want to take these options. But anyway, at the end, an inside information in this moment and we cannot discuss on it.

What is the effect that is coming from the history that it was a trimming of the network. As you remember, there were around 11 restaurants that we have already closed which was a negotiation with the development plan. There is another 1 year of development plan with the franchisor. So the context is a little bit far from having the legal ability to do it.

But anyway, a decision like this will be communicate -- will be proper communicate to the market. But what I want to mention here is that Pizza Hut in the last 2 years, it was the most affected end from our portfolio. Now after this -- second quarter of this year, we see an improvement of the results and we need to see how we can improve more the result of the Pizza Hut, and only after that, we can discuss about the radical nature.

Thank you for all the questions. We hope we have answered to all of -- everything which you want to discuss them in this call. Some of you, if you have also registered for the call in the Romanian language, we are looking forward to hearing you again in 5 minutes. We are going to present the same presentation as well as using our normal IR presentation skeleton. We are going to do also Q&A in Romanian language. Thank you very much for joining us, and we look forward to meeting you again after we publish the Q3 results in November of this year. Thank you, and have a great day.