La Kaffa International Co (六角國際), owner of bubble milk tea brand Chatime (日出茶太), yesterday said that it is upbeat about a recovery in its business after a sharp decline in the first six months of this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Hsinchu-based company posted NT$22.52 million (US$762,924) in net income for the first half of the year, or earnings per share of NT$0.55, plunging 87.03 percent from a year earlier to a nine-year low.
Profit was NT$14.32 million in the April-to-June quarter, shrinking 86 percent from a year earlier, although it was a 74.6 percent increase from the first quarter, company data showed.
Photo: CNA
“The worst is over and business will continue to improve at home and abroad as consumer activity around the world regains momentum,” La Kaffa chairman Henry Wang (王耀輝) told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference in Taipei.
La Kaffa also operates restaurant chains Kingza Pork Chop (杏子豬排), DCZ Beef Noodles (段純貞牛肉麵), Osaka Ohsho Taiwan (大阪王將煎餃) and Kyoto-katsugyu Fried Steak (京都勝牛), and offers cold and hot desserts in Taiwan and 46 other nations.
Revenue for last month recovered to NT$423.26 million, a 12.18 percent increase from June, although it was down 10.52 percent from a year earlier.
The local market generates 20 percent of overall revenue, while overseas markets account for 80 percent, Wang said.
Earnings should climb for the rest of the year as consumers gain confidence, he said.
La Kaffa has not cut its headcount, furloughed workers or pruned wages because authorities in Taiwan quickly brought the health crisis under control, Wang said.
The company’s beverages are popular in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan and North America, the company said.
Still, the pandemic prompted La Kaffa to embrace digital transformation, supported by 91APP — a local online-merge-offline retail solution provider — and Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), the banking arm of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), to take charge of payment issues.
People can place orders via an app and the products would be delivered the next day, Wang said.
The new “from shop to table” experience might generate revenue of between NT$3 million and NT$5 million per month, with repeat customers by the end of this year expected to make up 30 percent of people who use the app, he said.
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