Covid-19 takes huge bite out of restaurant giants
Covid-19’s devastating impact on the restaurant business has been revealed in four leading chains’ turnover figures for the first half of 2020.
MK Restaurant (MK), After You (AU), S&P Syndicate (SNP), and Zen Corporation Group (Zen) all suffered an unprecedented collapse of their profits.
MK saw year on year net profit drop 93.35 per cent, from Bt1.3 billion to Bt93.02 million. AU’s net profit dropped 91.67 per cent to Bt10.23 million – from Bt122.84 million last year.
Meanwhile SNP and ZEN fared even worse.
SNP’s net profit of Bt87.67 million last year fell 188.73 per cent to a deficit of Bt77.79 million. ZEN was hit by a whopping 291.73 per cent drop in net profit, from Bt65.29 million to a deficit of Bt125.18 million.
The main culprit was the Covid-19 outbreak, which prompted the government to shutdown restaurants and entertainment venues from the middle of March to the middle of May.
During the shutdown, the chains tried to soften the blow by offering deliveries and takeout services, but to little effect. AU also cut its staff numbers during lockdown.
The first-half figures saw the stock price of the chains plummet by 10 to 40 per cent last Friday (August 14). Total market capitalisation of all four fell by Bt22 billion to Bt62 billion.
Meanwhile, Minor International Group (MINT) and Oishi Group (OISHI) also suffered a drop in profits. Total revenue generated from MINT’s restaurants fell by 21.12 per cent to Bt9.65 billion, while income from OISHI restaurants fell by 65.76 per cent to Bt630 million.