Breadtalk

As BT scales back from expanding capital expenditure, cashflow and profitability improves. It looks to be consolidating to boost the bottom line. A good sign for shareholders.

http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/BTG_2Q20...eID=465275

If BT is able to continue to rationalise its operations while limiting expansion, profitability will catch up to valuation in a few years. Presently, my view is that the share price has already taken this into account.

BreadTalk Group Partners 115-Year-Old Japanese Trader Shinmei in Trading and F&B Joint Venture

BreadTalk Group Limited has, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Together Inc Pte Ltd, announced a joint venture agreement today with Shinmei Co Ltd to incorporate BTG-Shinmei Venture Pte Ltd.

BTG-Shinmei will be 66% and 34% owned by Together Inc and Shinmei respectively, with Trading and Food & Beverage being the two key areas of strategic partnership under this JV.

About Shinmei Corporation Limited
Established as a food wholesaler company in 1902, Shinmei Corporation specialises in the trading of rice, wheat and wheat flour. In the last 115 years, Shinmei Corporation has rapidly expanded to become an internationally renowned company that handles the procurement and trading of rice, flour, sugar and dairy products. With more than 1,800 employees, Shinmei Corporation opened its first frozen rice factory in West Sacramento, California in 2015.

BreadTalk Group partners PT. Pura Indah Berkat to grow its reputable Toast Box brand in Indonesia

SINGAPORE – Friday, 23 March 2018 – BreadTalk Group Limited, has, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, BreadTalk International Pte Ltd ("BTI"), entered into a joint venture agreement with PT. Pura Indah Berkat ("PIB") to incorporate PT BTG – Pura Indah Berkat Venture ("BTG-PIB").

BTG-PIB will operate the exclusive Toast Box chain of outlets in the Indonesia archipelago of islands. BTG-PIB will be 70% and 30% owned by BTI and PIB respectively. Under the agreement, BTG-PIB enters into a master agreement to develop and operate the renowned Toast Box brand.

More details in http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/BTG%20-%...eID=493959

Over the past decade, Breadtalk has grown its number of stores to almost a thousand, all over Asia but mainly in China. Recently, this growth has paused and some believe that this will lead to better margins. Here's a look at its massive growth over the past decade:

Revenue ('000):
08: 212,249
09: 246,493
10: 302,888
11: 365,904
12: 447,334
13: 536,530
14: 589,644
15: 624,149
16: 614,995
17: 599,747


Is BT's earnings finally going to earn higher margins and grow profits exponentially in the coming years? When its investment gains and property revaluation gains are stripped out of its earnings, it doesn't appear to be the case.

Net Margins:        Net Margins less investment and property gains:
08: 4.57%
09: 4.37%
10: 3.25%
11: 3.42%
12: 2.38%
13: 2.78%               2.66%
14: 4.02%               3.43%
15: 1.47%               0.90%
16: 1.76%               0.01%
17: 3.37%               1.44%


So it seems like its investment and property gains has been a little helpful in stemming the thinning margins. But how much, and what, are the value of these investments? The investment securities are valued at cost, or quotation, while the properties are at fair-value.

Investment Securities          Investment Properties ('000)
08: 1,494 
09: 1,494 
10: 11,669 
11: 11,669 
12: 45,883 
13: 59,799 
14: 77,182                         23,198 
15; 90,309                         24,053 
16: 90,100                         22,984 
17: 84,954                         39,463 

Its investment securities includes $39m of bonds, of which $26m is from Perennial entities. It also has a 5.27% stake in Perennial Tongzhou Development which it paid $20.4m, and a 5.86% stake in Perennial Tongzhou Holdings which it paid $14.5m. Its investment properties includes 18 units of office space in Shanghai, and a shophouse in Holland Village. Apart from these, BT also has a 29% stake in its associate Perennial (Chijmes), which holds Chijmes valued at $334m. This associate is held on BT's books at (only!) $22m. It seems that BT is very bullish on real estate, not only buying the real thing but also the stocks and bonds related to it. In particular, BT has a very close relationship with Perennial. Investors of BT should therefore take a closer look at Perennial. After all, more than $100m of BT's assets are exposed to it.


To pay for all the store and investment expansion, BT naturally had to take on debts. This raised its leverage to somewhat high level.

Liabilities-to-Assets
08: 61.86%
09: 61.55%
10: 63.23%
11: 67.42%
12: 74.46%
13: 75.73%
14: 74.30%
15: 73.14%
16: 71.54%
17: 71.20%

The saving grace is that its stores generate healthy operating cash flow. A recession may quickly bring down this cash generation. But that should not be the concern of investors. Instead, investors should be asking whether a hike in interest rate, a recession -- or for that matter, anything that could cause a hit to Chinese property market in general, or Perennial in particular -- may cause huge impairments on BT's property-related assets. Bondholders of BT who just refinanced them at 4% (lower than its previous 4.6%) may not be sufficiently compensated for the risks they are taking.

Just recently, BT adopted the SFRS(I) 9, where it revalued its non-current investment securities by $51m. This was added to its accumulated profits, and hence shareholder equity saw a huge jump from $130m to $180m. There was no explanation of the basis for the revaluation, but I suppose they are now measuring their equity stakes, in Perennial Tongzhou Development and Perennial Tongzhou Holdings, at fair-value. From the Perennial's AR, both these holdings have not been profitable since 2015, though they could have been very profitable before 2015. There's no available data on it.

Perhaps BT's pivot towards real estate is from its realization that it is easier and more profitable being a landlord, than a tenant running an F&B operation. Or maybe its model just wasn't so sustainable to begin with.

Finally, a google of the issuer of George Quek's honorary doctorate returned somewhat amusing results.

BreadTalk Group expands into Chongqing with new strategic partnership

BreadTalk Group Limited, via its wholly-owned subsidiary, Shanghai BreadTalk Gourmet Co Ltd ("Shanghai BreadTalk") had entered into a joint venture agreement ("JVA") on 13 June 2018 with Mr Ge Ying (“GY”) to operate the BreadTalk brand of bakeries in Chongqing, China.

Currently, GY and his team is an existing franchisee and manages the BreadTalk brand of bakeries in Tibet Autonomous Region (“TAR”) for the last six years. With proven track records, the Group is confident of his team’s capabilities to lead the growth plans for Chongqing, China.

The Group announced that Shanghai BreadTalk has entered into a JVA with GY, 30% shareholding will be owned by Shanghai BreadTalk and 70% owned by GY. The joint venture company will operate and manage the BreadTalk brand of bakeries in Chongqing and potentially expand across the South-western market. Under this agreement, Shanghai BreadTalk retains the rights to appoint exclusive partners to operate the BreadTalk brand in major transportation hubs.

More details in http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/BreadTal...eID=512149

Financial Results for The Second Quarter and Half Year Ended 30 June 2018

Highlights :
1. Group 2Q FY2018 Revenue increased 0.8% from $147.7 million to $148.8 million
2. Bakery Division revenue declined 5.2% Y/Y to $68.6 million from $72.4 million for 2Q FY2017
3. Food Atrium Division revenue grew 4.0% Y/Y to $38.8 million from $37.4 million, with an optimised portfolio of 53 outlets (2Q FY2017: 56 outlets)
4. Restaurant Division revenue rose 7.1% Y/Y to $37.3 million from $34.8 million with the addition of 3 more outlets : 1 in Singapore and 2 in Thailand
5. 4orth Food Concepts revenue increased 53.0% to $3.0 million from $2.0 million for 2Q FY2018
6. Group 2Q FY2018 Net Profit increased 10.5% from $2.2 million to $2.4 million
7. Group’s global expansion is on track; with opening of Din Tai Fung London before end 2018
8. Earnings per share (EPS) on a fully diluted basis for 2Q FY2018 was 0.43 cent compared to 0.39 cent for 2Q FY2017
9. Declared a tax exempt (one-tier) interim dividend of 0.5 cent per share for FY2018.

More details in :
1. http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/BTG_2Q20...eID=518718
2. http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/BTG_2Q20...eID=518719
3. http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/BTG_2Q18...eID=518720

BreadTalk Group acquires a strategic interest in NPPG (Thailand) Public Company Limited

BreadTalk Group Limited (“BTG”) announced that it will acquire, through its wholly owned subsidiary BTG Vault Pte Ltd, a total of 380 million shares in NPPG (Thailand) Public Company Limited ("NPPG"), at a price of 1.50 Thai Baht ("THB") per share. The transaction will be completed over two tranches.

In the first tranche, BTG will purchase 285 million shares at 1.50 THB per share, equivalent to approximately 15% of NPPG shareholding. The first tranche is to be completed before end April 2019. In the second tranche, BTG will purchase the remaining 95 million shares at 1.50 THB per share, equivalent to approximately 5% of NPPG shareholding before end January 2020. BTG will initially assume two seats on NPPG’s Board following the completion of the first tranche.

More details in :
1. https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/BTG%20-%2...eID=551262
2. https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/BTG%20-%2...eID=551263

About NPPG
NPPG (Thailand) Public Company Limited was founded on 17 September 1987 with registered start-up capital of 4.2 million baht and the objective to produce and distribute flexible plastic packaging for various types of consumer products. We have expanded our production capacity by adding PET bottle production lines (PET: Polyethylene Terephthalate Bottle) for drinking water and vegetable oil. The company has been granted a permission to be transformed into a public company and then listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in 1993. At present, the company has registered capital amounting to 1,162 million baht. NPP Group has subsequently expanded the business scope to food and restaurant and has acquired major brands such as A&W, Kitchen Plus, and Dean and Deluc.

Website : http://www.nppg.co.th/en/home

BreadTalk Group Partners with Song Fa Holdings for Taiwan Market Expansion

BreadTalk Group Limited had through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Together Inc Pte Ltd, entered into a joint venture with Song Fa Holdings Pte Ltd on 3 July 2017 and incorporated BTG-Song Fa Venture Pte Ltd ("BTG-Song Fa"). Till date, BTG-Song Fa successfully operates and manages the Song Fa Bak Kut Teh brand of restaurants in two main cities in China namely Shanghai, Beijing. Most recently, BTG-Song Fa officially opened its first outlet in CentralWorld in Bangkok on 26 March 2019, Thailand and overall, the seventh outlet under this partnership.

To leverage on this growth momentum, BreadTalk Group has through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Food Republic Taiwan Co. Ltd. ("Food Republic Taiwan") entered into a franchise agreement with Song Fa Holdings Pte. Ltd. ("Song Fa") to introduce the Song Fa Bak Kut Teh brand of restaurants in Taiwan, China. Under this agreement, Food Republic Taiwan will hold the franchise rights to develop and operate the highly popular brand in Taiwan over the next 10 years.

Song Fa Bak Kut Teh was first founded in 1969 and steadily grew to become a household brand name in the last 50 years with ten outlets in Singapore, seven in Indonesia. Energized by its partnership with BreadTalk Group, Song Fa Bak Kut Teh opened another six outlets in China and one in Thailand. Recognised by the Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand Awards from 2016 – 2018, Song Fa outletsin Taiwan will continue to deliver its renowned Teochew tender pork ribs immersed in its flavourful, spice-infused hot broth dining experience, accompanied with servings of deep fried traditional dough sticks and side dishes to its customers.

More details in https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/BTG%20-%2...eID=561779

At a time when most of its Chinese property investments are not looking super, BT is going to spend $80m to buy Food Junction from Auric. Better to have a steady cashflow business to finance your illiquid investments and developments.

After the disposal of its distribution business to DKSH, and now Food Junction to BT, what will Auric do with Gardenia, its only remaining jewel?

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/compani...n-for-s80m

(02-09-2019, 09:07 AM)karlmarx Wrote: At a time when most of its Chinese property investments are not looking super, BT is going to spend $80m to buy Food Junction from Auric. Better to have a steady cashflow business to finance your illiquid investments and developments.

After the disposal of its distribution business to DKSH, and now Food Junction to BT, what will Auric do with Gardenia, its only remaining jewel?

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/compani...n-for-s80m

Good Monday Morning Big Boss Karlmarx sir.and everyone.

Is Not Gardenia sir. Is Sunshine sir.

https://www.auricgroup.com/

Not Vested