Jubilant FoodWorks Q1 loss at Rs 73 cr as sales crash in COVID-19 lockdown

Noida (Uttar Pradesh) [India], September 2 : Food services major Jubilant FoodWorks which operates Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts chain in India on Wednesday reported a loss of Rs 73 crore in the first quarter of current fiscal as COVID-19 lockdown closed businesses and consumer demand crashed.
In Q1 FY20, it had reported a profit of Rs 75 crore. Revenue from operations in Q1 FY21 fell by 59 per cent to Rs 380 crore from Rs 9,401 crore in Q1 FY20.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 89 per cent to Rs 24 crore from Rs 219 crore in the same period.
The company said the impact of COVID-19 pandemic was felt severely in Q1 FY21. The nationwide lockdown led to a complete closure of stores initially, with dine-in and takeaway remaining closed for most of the quarter.
The company leveraged its supply chain network, vendor partnerships and logistics set-up to ensure uninterrupted supply of raw materials to the stores. This allowed it to reopen our stores swiftly for delivery.
Domino's was among the fastest to reopen restaurants with over 78 per cent of the network resuming operations by June. At the same time, the company opened 24 new stores and added six new cities for Domino's Pizza.
"We displayed tremendous agility, flexibility and boldness in the way we responded to the crisis to deliver a strong performance," said Chairman Shyam S Bhartia and Co-Chairman & Managing Director Hari S Bhartia.
"While the operating environment continues to remain highly uncertain, we are hopeful that normalcy will return by year-end," they said in a joint statement.
Jubilant FoodWorks continues to have a strong cash position and a debt-free balance sheet. As on June 30, it had liquid funds equivalents to Rs 640 crore in the form of cash and cash equivalents, bank deposits and investments.