Food, jewellery brands lift Taste

TASTE Holdings yesterday reported a 28% rise in diluted headline earnings per share to 5.5c for the six months ended August, driven by performances from its food and jewellery brands.

LISTED retail franchise group Taste Holdings yesterday reported a 28% rise in diluted headline earnings per share to 5.5c for the six months ended August, driven by strong performances from its food and jewellery brands.

Taste, whose portfolio includes Scooters Pizza, The Fish & Chip Co and NWJ Jewellery, reported revenue for the period of R263.5m, up 24% on the same period in the previous year.

CEO Carlo Gonzaga said the performance was driven by a solid performance from all divisions, with a “great performance of our jewellery division”, which achieved same-store sales growth of 12%.

In the previous year’s interim period, same-store jewellery sales also grew 12%.

Mr Gonzaga said profit from the jewellery division was boosted by the addition of eight corporateowned stores, and the division’s operating profit rose 24%.

Although consumers were under pressure they still wanted to buy jewellery, and NWJ was well positioned in the market given its strong value proposition, Mr Gonzaga said.

NWJ was SA’s third-largest jewellery brand with 74 outlets, he said. “Historically, the division produces 70%-75% of its annual operating profit in the second half of the year, boding well for the festive season sales.”

Meanwhile, operating profit from Taste’s food franchise division increased 16%. During the period, the group signed a funding arrangement with Nedbank and Brimstone Investment Corporation that gave preferential funding to 50 new and existing Fish & Chip Co franchisees.

This forms part of Taste’s intention to open 100 new outlets across its food brands in the current financial year, ending February. Mr Gonzaga said the group was “well on our way” to reaching this target.

Taste had also benefited from the relatively short time it had taken for the newly established food distribution business, Buon Gusto Food Services, to reverse its startup losses and become profitable during the period. In the short term, the group was focused on improving same-store sales in the food franchise division, as well as assessing acquisition opportunities across the group and “unlocking value”, Mr Gonzaga said.

Taste also said Luigi Gonzaga would retire as an executive direc- tor, effective from the end of February. Luigi Gonzaga, along with his son and current Taste CEO Carlo Gonzaga, co-founded

Scooters Pizza in 2000.