Shares of Sapphire Foods India Ltd dropped on Thursday (August 24) amid a large deal, which saw 2.6 percent equity shares worth Rs 220 crore of the restaurant operator changing hands. According to BSE data, trading volume surged by around 1,199 times on the bourse.
Around 2.6 percent equity of Sapphire Foods worth Rs 220 crore changed hands in a block deal, according to market sources. Buyers and sellers in the transaction and the price per share of the deal were not known immediately.
Sapphire Foods India shares were down 0.5 percent at Rs 1,354 apiece on BSE. The stock traded 0.29 percent lower at Rs 1,355.55 per share on NSE.
Sapphire Foods is one of the largest franchisees of Yum! Brands Inc. in the subcontinent and operates more than 700 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants across India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Promoters, which include private equity players such as Sagista Realty Advisors Private Limited (Trustee of QSR Management Trust), Ironman Investments Limited, and Samara Capital Partners Fund II Limited, hold around 44.86 percent stake in the company.
The company reported consolidated restaurant sales growth of 20 percent year-on-year despite the consumer demand headwinds in the April-June quarter. Its revenue stood at Rs 652 crore for the quarter.
Its consolidated operating profits or EBITDA rose by 10 percent year-on-year to Rs 122.4 crore in the quarter.
Consolidated profit after tax declined to Rs 248 crore in the June quarter of FY24 from Rs 381 crore in the year ago quarter.
The company opened 35 restaurants (17 KFC and 16 Pizza Hut as well as 1 KFC and Pizza Hut each in Maldives) in the first quarter of FY24, taking the total restaurant count to 778.
