Food Junction

[Drizzt]

alot stil feel the cash is not there or that food court business isnt worth much. i am not an expert so hard to analyse

[karlmarx]

In Jul08, Auric Pacific Group (controlled by the Lippo Group/James Riady/Riady Family) made a $0.55/share Voluntary Conditional Cash Partial Offer for 35% of FJ.....
http://info.sgx.com/listprosp.nsf/5ec09b...00036967a/$FILE/APG%20Strategic-OffDoc-Casting.pdf [formal offer document to FJ's shareholders, by Stirling Coleman]
http://info.sgx.com/listprosp.nsf/5ec09b...c0029913e/$FILE/Food%20Junction.pdf [circular to FJ's shareholders, containing IFA Westcomb's opinion on the partial offer]
and, at the end of the exercise, Auric Pacific Group managed to raise its stake in FJ to the present 58.8% (adjusted for the recent/latest share buy-backs by FJ).

A relevant question: Were the management of Auric Pacific Group, James raidy, and their professional adviosrs 'nuts' when they offered $0.55/share for FJ in 2008?

looking at their portfolio, i don't think auric pacific are good allocators of capital. an example of a which would be delifrance; which is bleeding badly and terribly managed. Malone, their restaurant in china, has also hardly turned any good profit. And currently, it seems they have plans to expand into property development. the only good business they have is their bakery manufacturing division.

auric pacific's track record appears to behave like a retail investor -- buying the latest fad in the market at bullish bids. why are they looking at property investments when the market is toppish and saturated with competitors? it seems they no longer have any business/investment ideas.

[dydx]

FJ has just launched a new 200-seat Mediterranean restaurant called MEDZS, located at Orchard Central’s basement 2.....
http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...50036DE75/$file/110417-Press_Release_Medzs.pdf?openelement
MEDZS serves various Mediterranean fare – such as Spanish, Moroccan, French, Turkish and Greek − in a one-stop, integrated open dining concept, providing a colourful, exotic dining experience.

Got to try it one day!

[nutty]

I would think that Orchard Central is a poor location.

It doesn't draw much crowd, especially on basement 2.

[Drizzt]

what turn out to be great food might not always mean great biz. we need to see a good performance after so much disappointment first

[dydx]

The just released Q1 (ended 31Mar11)-FY11 results makes interesting reading.....
http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...70034C63E/$file/110505-FJH-Result_Announcement_1Q2011.pdf?openelement

This is the 2nd consecutive quarter - when compared with Q4-FY10 and Q3-FY10 - that Food Junction has posted a higher PBT.

Based on the Q1-FY11 numbers, Food Junction's total revenue is now running at $54.7m p.a. (vs. $48.2m in FY10), before factoring in any further growth from new F&B outlets to be opened. On the same basis, PBT is now running at $4.67m p.a. (vs. $3.33m in FY10), and NP is now running at $3.46m p.a. (vs. $2.65m in FY10).

Assuming a conservative projected NP of $3.46m for FY11, and based on the latest 127.39m outstanding issued shares (excluding treasury shares), we can derive current-year EPS as $0.027. Against the last done share price of $0.20, Mr Market is now attaching a PER of 7.4x. I am quite optimistic that Food Junction could turn in a higher NP than $3.46m in FY11.

Meanwhile, those who are interested to try FJ's new MEDZ Mediterranean foodcourt at B2 of Orchard Central can take advantage of the current "$9.90 Set Lunch" promotion or "1 For 1 All Day Long" internartional beer promotion....
http://www.foodjunction.com/news/medzs-p...unch-9-90/
http://www.foodjunction.com/news/medzs-beer-promo/

[dydx]

Checked my bank account this morning and noted a nice credit from Food Junction's $0.0025/share Final dividend for FY10. Some extra money for shopping this weekend!

I have also noticed some buying/accumulation of this counter in the last few market days (starting from 13May11), and the share price has also gone up a little and closed at $0.22 (20May11). Good sign!

[Drizzt]

i wonder if anyone ask the management how come they were Sh** for 7 straight years

[karlmarx]

i wonder if anyone ask the management how come they were Sh** for 7 straight years

hah! my sentiments exactly! there's alot of work to be done before any improvements in its business can be seen...and the same goes for its share price

[dydx]

there's alot of work to be done before any improvements in its business can be seen...and the same goes for its share price

I think the remaining problem areas are: (1) some previous loss-making self-operated stalls in their Singapore food courts, and (2) the under-performing Malone's (Shanghai) and food court in Beijing. For (1), sooner or later FJ should be able to lease them out to new independent operators. For (2), FJ will have to cut operating costs and try to raise revenue.

The Toast@Work local coffee stalls and the newer food courts (e.g. NUS Yusof Ishak House, and NEX@Serangoon) are already contributing to revenue and profits. The latest 2 quarterly results are already showing some early signs of a positive evolution in the group business.