Koufu profit slumps by 65.4% in 2020

The food and beverage giant's income fell as the pandemic forced people to eat at home.

For the full year of 2020, food and beverage company Koufu reported a net profit of $9.6m, a 65.4% drop from the $27.84m recorded in the previous year.

In the last half of 2020, profits fell to $7.41m from $13.69m for the same period in 2019.

Koufu Executive Chairman and CEO Pang Lim attributed this loss to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Koufu’s defensive business nature helped to ensure earnings resilience as we ploughed through the challenging period, including two months of Circuit Breaker which saw movement controls such as the prohibition of dine-in services and other restrictions that adversely impacted all F&B businesses,” he said in a statement.

Dine-in services were disallowed during the phase 1 of post-circuit breaker measures. This led to the temporary suspension of operations of 10 food courts, three quick-service restaurants, two full-service restaurants, and 26 kiosks. Lower foot traffic following the easing of restrictions also drove profits lower.

In 2020, Koufu opened four new food courts, one quick-service restaurant, and three kiosks. It is looking into expanding its operations in Macau, Malaysia, and Thailand and continues doing business in Indonesia and Philippines.

As of end December 2020, Koufu has been operating 51 food courts; 18 coffee shops; a commercial mall; 79 food and beverage stalls; 186 licensed stalls, kiosks, and stores; 39 food and beverage kiosks; four full-service restaurants; and  seven quick-service restaurants.

Share prices closed at $0.67 Tuesday, a mere $0.01 increase from its previous close of $0.66.