Wowprime Corp (王品), the nation’s largest restaurant chain operator, yesterday reported that net profit in the first half of the year contracted 31.64 percent year-on-year to NT$166 million (US$5.26 million), or earnings per share of NT$2.15.
Revenue fell 5.29 percent annually to NT$8.14 billion in the first six months, including NT$4.82 billion from its Taiwan operations, or about 60 percent of the total, the company said.
Wowprime has 421 restaurants: 265 in Taiwan, 133 in China and 23 franchises in other countries, information on its Web site showed.
RESTRUCTURING
However, the company’s business restructuring has started to bear fruit, with earnings edging up 0.91 percent from a year earlier to NT$83.4 million, or NT$1.08 per share, in the second quarter — a historically slow season, it said.
Wowprime said it expects sales to continue to pick up, as the third quarter is a high season for the sector, with several festivals, such as Father’s Day, Lovers’ Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
CHINA
The company said it plans to expand its footprint in China this year, after revenue from operations across the Taiwan Strait rose 1.4 percent annually to NT$3.32 billion in the first half.
Despite the slowdown in the Chinese economy, Wowprime plans to open eight or nine new outlets there by the end of this year, as well as introduce new brands, it said.
It also plans to expand into other overseas markets, with a new outlet of barbecue brand Yakiyan likely to open in California this month.
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