Johannesburg - Gold Brands on Friday blamed a decline in consumer spending for the dip in its profits to less than R10 million for the year ended February.
“The economy has seen a drastic decline in domestic consumer spend for individual consumers and in an attempt to combat the slow - down in consumer spending we have had to absorb many of the costs and be innovative in our menu ideas to ensure consumer affordability, without losing focus on product quality,” Gold Brands said.
The fast food franchiser recorded a profit for the year of R8.95 million during a period in which it made R235 million in revenue.
Headline earnings per share were 10.25 cents but no ordinary dividends were declared, and no ordinary dividend was proposed for the year.
Gold Brands listed on the JSE this year, starting trade at R2 per share. The company said its board of directors was of the opinion that the Group had sufficient resources to continue as a going concern.
The fast food franchiser is home to brands such as the popular Chesa Nyama, 1+1 Pizza, Opa!Pitaland, Chicken Wild Wings and the much-loved but seldom seen Blacksteer.
“2016 has welcomed our Chesa Nyama brand into new consumer markets, with the opening of our first store in a major mall - Menlyn Shopping centre in Pretoria,” Gold Brands said.
“We have continued to see good growth in our Chesanyama Brand reaching a milestone of 300 stores, with 41 signed up new applicants who we are in the process of identifying sites for.”
The company was founded as Franchising to Africa in 2012, established its flagship brand, Chesa Nyama, with its first store at Wits University. It grew to 289 stores in three years, creating more than 3 000 jobs.
AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY