Westlife Development hits 52-week high on heavy volumes

The stock surged 15% to Rs 283 on BSE in intra-day trade.

Westlife Development,  owner of the Master Franchisee of McDonald’s restaurants in West and South India, surged 15% to Rs 283, also its 52-week high on BSE in intra-day trade, on back of heavy volumes after news that 169 outlets of McDonald's in  the North and East India will shut. 

While the decision has not been finalised, it seems inevitable with McDonald’s India terminating the franchise agreement for the fast-food outlets run by Connaught Plaza Restaurant Ltd (CPRL), alleging breach of contract and payment default.

The trading volumes on the counter jumped more than eight-fold with 179,000 shares changed hands on BSE till 11:17 am as against an average 21,000 shares were traded daily in past two weeks.

Westlife Development had posted 35.6% year-on-year (YoY) growth in operating EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) at Rs 14.8 crore in June quarter. Ebitda margin improved to 7.7% from 7.2%. Revenue growth 13.9% YoY to Rs 262 crore riding on the strong performance of its subsidiary, Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. (HRPL)

The company while announcing results on August 1, said , the restaurants clocked in an impressive 8.7% same store sales growth in the Apr- Jun quarter, making this not only the eighth consecutive quarter of positive sales growth for the company, but also the highest comparable growth in over four years.

In past seven trading sessions, the stock rallied 22% against 1% decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.