Ajisen ramen sales growth in the first quarter is weak

Ajisen failed to continue its growth last year. Yesterday's first-quarter financial report released by Ajisen China showed that the company's same-store sales in Hong Kong grew by 1.1% year-on-year, while same-store sales in the Mainland increased by 5.1% year-on-year. The Group's fast casual restaurant business sales rose 2.1% year-on-year.

JP Morgan believes that the same-store sales growth in the first quarter of Ajisen has slowed down compared with the previous two quarters. It is expected that the same-store sales of the Group will only increase by 5% in the first quarter of this year. Among them, the fast casual restaurant business only grew by 2%, which was significantly lower than the 6% expected in the second half of last year. It is believed that there will be more possibility of closing stores in the coming quarter. JP Morgan also quoted the management's statement that the operating environment is currently very unstable, so the original 9% sales growth forecast and 22% earnings growth expectation were reduced to 6% and 12%, respectively.

Last year, Ajisen’s turnover was HK$3.24 billion, a slight increase of 6.5% year-on-year, and net profit rose by 76.2% to HK$271 million. Last year was an adjustment year for Ajisen. The Group slowed down the expansion of the chain restaurant network as planned, closed poorly-performing stores, adjusted the area of ​​some stores, increased the output per unit area, and adopted a more targeted development strategy. The restaurant network of the Guangzhou-Zhejiang-Jiangxi-Zhejiang-Nanjing-Jinhuan transportation hub is located in the north, achieving a structural transformation from a multi-store shop to a good shop.