Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc., the listed pizza restaurant chain led by the Po family, said it incurred a net loss of P247 million from the previous year’s income of P865.23 million.
The company said it incurred losses for most of 2020, but it posted an income of P215 million in the fourth quarter. However, this was not enough to offset the losses it incurred during the previous three quarters.
“2020 was obviously a one-of-a kind year amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and the restaurant industry was one of the hardest hit. Nonetheless, despite our net loss for the year, we’ve managed to pull through with positive cash flows, improved cost structures, and greater ability to address off-premise demand thanks to the gallant efforts of our team and the numerous business innovations we’ve been put into place,” Vicente Gregorio, the company’s president and CEO, said.
The company’s business was heavily affected by the series of lockdown measures, which at its peak in March through May, forced the temporary closure of 91 percent of its store network.
When quarantine measures eased, store traffic inched up slowly during the second half of 2020, but it still booked a loss of P171.95 million for the third quarter.
For the fourth quarter, however, the company’s systemwide sales reached P1.8 billion, a growth of 33 percent from the third quarter due to the seasonal holiday pick-up, increased dine-in sales, as well as a resilient delivery and carry-out business.
For the entire year, the company ended with total sales of P6.6 billion, or just 64 percent of sales in 2019. On a same-store sales basis, excluding the impact of closed stores, sales were down 30 percent year-on-year, it said.
“We are pleased by the improvements we saw towards year-end which gave us the confidence to further invest in future growth, readying ourselves to better compete in the ‘new normal’ while creating jobs amid the Philippines’ tough economic environment,” Gregorio said.
“Moving into 2021, the ability to stay nimble and adapt to the ever-changing environment will be of utmost importance. We are hopeful that dine-in continues to recover this year, but are nonetheless managing the fact that guests will likely continue to need convenient and flexible out-of-store options.”
The company earlier said it will restart a store network expansion strategy that was put on hold last year due to the pandemic. The stores will, however, have smaller footprints and reduced investment requirements relative to traditional brick-and-mortar stores. This ensures payback periods are kept short and return on capital remains high.
The company is also looking to build locations that have the Shakey’s, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken and R and B Milk Tea brands in one location to maximize its existing asset base.