In the third quarter of 2020, the Group’s consolidated sales stood at RON197.9 million, down 20.5% from the same period in 2019, but 86.2% higher than in the second quarter of 2020. This performance helped partially recover the negative evolution caused by the onset of the pandemic in the second quarter of 2020 and triggered a normalized EBITDA of RON28.4 million and a 5.7% margin in the first nine months, significantly higher than the normalized EBITDA of RON1.6 million and the 0.5% margin reported in the first half of 2020.
Throughout the third quarter of 2020, the Group benefitted from state aid from the Romanian government, which helped lower the payroll expenses by 33.4%, as well as successfully renegotiated with its lessors, which ended in 20.7% decrease in rent expenses. The advertising costs were lowered by 34.9% compared to the third quarter of 2019.
The Group closed the third quarter of 2020 with a normalized EBITDA of RON26.9 million, just 11.8% lower than result from the third quarter of 2019, and a net profit of RON17.6 million, 12.3% lower than in the third quarter of 2019.
Since the beginning of 2020 until present, three new KFC stores opened in Italy, four KFCs in Romania (+1 relocation in Targu Mures), and one Taco Bell. In the third quarter of 2020, the Group inaugurated four stores – three in Romania and one in Italy. So far, in the fourth quarter, one KFC restaurant was inaugurated in Romania, one KFC in Italy and one Taco Bell in Romania. The Group had 158 restaurants on September 30, 2020.
Sphera Franchise Group holds the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell franchises in Romania and develops the KFC brand in the Republic of Moldova and Italy too. The Group is indirectly held by Radu Dimofte (43.7%), Nicolae Badea (21.4%), Lucian Vlad (11.0%) and other shareholders (23.9%).