EBIDTA declined by 42.3% to Rs 32.63 crore in Q3 December 2020 from Rs 56.58 crore in Q3 December 2019. Profit before tax in Q3 FY21 stood at Rs 10.94 crore, down by 64.7% from Rs 30.96 crore in Q3 FY20.

In the quarter under review, the company's revenues for Q3FY21 zoomed to 85-90% of pre-COVID levels with December revenues almost back to pre-COVID levels. In the second half of the quarter, almost all of its highway stores exceeded pre-COVID sales with the trend being similar for its stores in smaller cities such as Bharuch, Kolhapur, Nellore and Tirupati. In fact, almost all of the company's restaurants marched close to full recovery except those being close to colleges and some mall stores where movie theatres are key generators.

This was despite significant regulatory restrictions including night curfews and 50% capacity limits in many of the company's key markets.

At the same time, the company improved its margins significantly on the back of cost efficiencies, and the Operating EBIDTA jumped to 10.2% from (-) 4.9% in Q2 FY21. With a new cost framework and a lower break-even point, the company reported pre-COVID level of margins, despite lower revenues. The cash profits from this quarter have helped the company wipe off half the losses incurred in the first half of FY21.

The company also got back on its growth path and added 3 new McDonald's restaurants taking the total count to 304 and 3 new McCafés taking the total count to 227.

Commenting on the financial results for the quarter ended 31 December 2020, Amit Jatia, vice-chairman of Westlife Development, said, "At Westlife, we believe that in every adversity, lies an opportunity. So, we took the pandemic as an opportunity to pivot our business, accelerate our omni-channel strategy, create new revenue channels and re-engineer cost frameworks. This helped us create a business that is even more robust and future-proof. With this heartening recovery, we believe that the worst is behind us. We look forward to reclaiming our growth path and re-start our march towards our Vision 2022."

Westlife Development focuses on setting up and operating Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) in India through its subsidiary Hardcastle Restaurants. The company operates a chain of McDonald's restaurants in West and South India, having a master franchisee relationship with McDonald's Corporation USA, through the latter's Indian subsidiary.

Shares of Westlife Development shed 0.54% to Rs 457.