• Continued restaurant portfolio growth with the opening of 37 new stores in Q1 2024 and 37 new restaurants under construction
  • Persistent focus on optimizing costs and driving revenue opportunities

Abu Dhabi and Riyadh: Americana Restaurants International PLC (“Americana Restaurants” or the “Company”) (ADX symbol: AMR/ ISIN: AEE01135A222) (Saudi Stock Exchange symbol: 6015), the largest out-of-home dining and quick service restaurant operator in the Middle East & North Africa (“MENA”) and Kazakhstan, today announced its financial results for the three-month period ended 31 March 2024, generating revenues of $493.5 million and adjusted EBITDA of $103.3 million.

Business Performance Impacted by Macro-environment and Ramadan Seasonality

In the first quarter of 2024, Americana Restaurants reported $493.5 million in revenues, a decrease of 16.3% year-on-year. Decline in revenues were primarily driven by lower like-for-like sales due to ongoing geopolitical tensions in the region, as well as the seasonal effect of Ramadan period.

During Q1 2024, Americana Restaurants reported lower cost of inventory vs Q1 2023, as a result of optimized use of raw materials and strategic procurement.

Americana Restaurants reported adjusted EBITDA of $103.3 million, maintaining a healthy margin of 20.9% vs 21.5% year-on-year. The Company benefited from lower cost of inventory and reduced marketing expense.  

Net Income for the quarter, attributable to the shareholders of the Parent Company, stood at $28.0 million, impacted due to lower sales as a result of the geopolitical situation and onset of Ramadan, as well as higher depreciation charges and rent expenses on account of new store openings during the period.

Furthermore, the Company continued to exhibit financial resilience with a solid cash position of $159.9 million, indicating sustained financial health of the business.

Americana Restaurants continued to enhance its footprint with the opening of 37 gross new stores in the first quarter of 2024. As at 31 March 2024, Americana Restaurants’ portfolio stood at 2,456 restaurants, with 37 new restaurants under construction.

On 24 April 2024, Americana Restaurants held its Annual General Meeting, where shareholders approved distribution of total dividends amounting to $179.4 million (equivalent to $0.0213 per share), split between ordinary dividend of $129.7 million (equivalent to $0.0154 per share) and an additional one-time special dividend of $49.7 million (equivalent to $0.0059 per share).

Management Outlook

Americana Restaurants is committed to navigating the current economic adversities while continuing its expansion strategy. In 2024, the Company will continue expanding its restaurants portfolio by opening stores in markets which are less impacted by the current regional macro-environment.  Management expects to open 200-225 net new stores in 2024.

Additionally, the Company will continue to focus on revenue recovery initiatives such as smart pricing, targeting, promotion and marketing, with sharp focus on driving transactions through value, crave and familiarity.

The Company expects to achieve improvements in gross profit margins for 2024; when compared with 2023. Looking forward to Q2 2024, management anticipates a lesser impact of Ramadan on sales compared to Q2 2023, when the majority of the Holy Month fell within the current period.

Financial Highlights

$ millions

Q1 2024

Q1 2023

Change %

Revenue

493.5

589.4

(16.3%)

Adjusted EBITDA

103.3

126.9

(18.6%)

Adjusted EBITDA Margin (%)

20.9%

21.5%

 

Net Profit (attributable to the shareholders of the Parent Company)

28.0

58.1

(51.8%)

Adjusted Free Cash Flow

(26.5)

16.9

NM

Earnings per Share ($)

0.0033

0.0069

(51.8%)

-Ends-

Appendix

Earnings Conference Call

A conference call to present earnings, followed by a Q&A session, has been scheduled for Thursday, 9 May 2024 at 17:00 (GST) / 14:00 (BST) / 9:00 (EDT). The call will be hosted by Amarpal Sandhu (CEO), Harsh Bansal (CFO & CGO) and Sonika Sahni (Head Investor Relations). Interested parties are invited to join the call by clicking here.

About Americana Restaurants

Americana Restaurants is the largest out-of-home dining and quick service restaurant (QSR) operator in its 12 countries of operation across the Middle East, North Africa and Kazakhstan. The Company’s historic IPO on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and the Saudi Exchange in 2022 marked the region’s first-ever concurrent dual listing. Today, Americana Restaurants is a leading master franchisee and a food and beverage pioneer with decades long heritage, an extensive geographic footprint, long-standing franchisor relationships and a diverse restaurant portfolio that spans the full out-of-home dining spectrum from QSR to fast casual, coffee and indulgence. The Company’s portfolio includes a range of iconic global brands, including KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardee’s, Krispy Kreme, Peet’s Coffee, Wimpy, TGI Friday’s, Costa Coffee and Baskin Robbins. Americana Restaurants’ customer-centric restaurant platform, which includes 20 proprietary SuperApps, allows customers to experience their favourite global restaurant brands and meals when they want, where they want and how they want.

For more information, please visit: www.americanarestaurants.com

Contact
Investor Relations
Sonika Sahni
Investor.Relations@americanarestaurants.com

Media
Hayan Alshadaydeh (MSL Group)
Hayan.alshadaydeh@mslgroup.com

Legal Notice and Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information

This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "believes", "estimates", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "may", "will" or "should" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. They appear in a number of places and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, amongst other things, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth and strategies. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and the actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which the Company operates, may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements set out in this announcement. Past performance of the Company cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance. The forward-looking statements contained in this document speak only as at the date of this document. The Company expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update these forward-looking statements contained in the document to reflect any change in their expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which such statements are based unless required to do so by applicable law. No statement in this document is intended to be a profit forecast. As a result, you are cautioned not to place any undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. In addition, even if the results of operations, financial condition and liquidity of the Company, and the development of the industry in which the Company operates, are consistent with the forward-looking statements set out in this document, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods.

The payment of dividends by the Company is subject to consideration by the Board of Directors of the cash management requirements of the Company. In addition, the Company expects that when deciding on dividend distribution, the Board of Directors will also consider market conditions, the then current operating environment in the markets in which the Company operates, and the outlook for the Company’s business.