Premier Capital plc and its subsidiaries, which operate McDonald’s in Malta, Greece, Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, collectively registered an increase in revenue from €405.4 million in 2021 to €533.6 million in 2022, an increase of 31.6 per cent.
Premier Capital is a subsidiary of Hili Ventures, part of Hili Group.
The directors noted that “while 2022 started with a recovery trend from COVID-19 disruption, it then proceeded with the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity that the war in Ukraine brought about.
“All markets, to different extents, experienced spiralling increases in food costs and in operating and development costs. Despite this, the group maintained a commitment towards its investment strategy and along the year increased its footprint by eight restaurants.”
The report also notes that despite the pressure brought about by inflationary spirals, the group maintained and increased the guest counts in every market and also embarked on structured and formal price-studies to increase prices in a balanced and structured approach.
During the year under review, the group registered an operating profit of €51.3 million, increasing from €44.4 million in 2021.
After accounting for investment income and finance costs, the group registered a pre-tax profit of €44.5 million, compared to €38.5 million in the previous year.
The group’s net assets as at 31st December 2022 amounted to €100.8 million, a sharp increase over the €68.7 million it held on the same date of 2021.
The Group measures its performance based on EBITDA. EBITDA is defined as the group profit before net investment income and finance costs, taxation, depreciation and amortisation.
During the year under review, EBITDA increased by 12.6 per cent to €77.6 million, from €68.9 million, whereas the Group’s EBITDA margin (EBITDA divided by turnover) decreased from 17 per cent to 14.5 per cent .
Premier Capital plc and its subsidiaries profit for the year after taxation was €40.8 million, while the holding company’s profit after tax stood at €11.4 million.
During the year, the directors declared an interim dividend of €19 million. The directors are not recommend the payment of a final dividend.
Non-financial Matters
The average number of employees increased from 9,211 to 10,043 during the year.
During the year under review, the group continued to grow its portfolio, bringing up the total number of restaurants it operates to 174 by the end of the year (2021 – 166). Of these restaurants, 96 are operated in Romania, 41 in the Baltic States, 28 in Greece, and nine in Malta.
Future Outlook
The group is planning to continue the expansion of its restaurants in all its markets in the short to medium-term and aims to open an average of 12 restaurants per annum over the course of the next five years.
This target is dependent on the performance of the group in the coming years and specifically its resilience to the ongoing impacts of the war in Ukraine as well as other macroeconomic issues that may impact its supply chain; the impact of increasing interest rates on real estate in the various markets in which the group operates; and the ability to attract and retain the right talent to sustain this growth.
