Saudi food service company Herfy sees red in second-quarter as sales plunge 45%

Saudi food service company Herfy reported a loss of 34.24 million riyals for the quarter through June 30 as sales plunged 45%.

The company said in a bourse filing on Monday (Aug 10) the drop in sales to 170.1 million riyals compared to 309.31 million riyals for the same quarter last year was due to COVID-19 restrictions.

These included the closure of Herfy restaurants in commercial centres, the limitation of service in some restaurants that then allowed only home delivery service, and the adjustment of working hours due to curfew.

Quarter-on-quarter, sales dropped 43%, showing the impact of the pandemic over the first half of 2020.

The company’s six-month performance saw sales slump by 25% to 467.03 million riyals compared to 622.7 million riyals in the same period in 2019.

Herfy also made provisions of 5.9 million riyals for doubtful debts and 8 million riyals for slow-moving inventory, both of which hit its bottom line.

For the six-month period of January to June, the company made a net loss of 9.11 million riyals compared to a profit of 88.91 million riyals for the same time last year.

Herfy operates its fast food restaurants as well as bakeries. It also has a meat processing business line. The company reported a 3.96% drop in net profit for 2019 to 196.09 million riyals ($52.29 million).

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