Burger King is growing 39% this year and reaches 1.1 billion in sales

Restaurant Brands Iberia (RBI), the company that operates the Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons brands in Spain and Portugal, is heading towards a new record year. The company, controlled by Cinven, ended the first nine months of the year with Its turnover amounts to 835 million euros, up 39%, putting it on the cusp of exceeding 1,100 million euros a year – not counting concessions – representing a 35% advance compared to 2022, according to David Murciano, director of RBI Financial.

“The summer was good, in line with the rest of the year, and September went the same way. We did not notice a slowdown in the market,” explains the manager.

Triple crane

The company’s growth was due to a similar 4% increase, thanks to increased traffic, both in stores and digitally, and a slightly higher average ticket than last year, which pushed the company to gain share.

In addition, the Group has opened more than 50 restaurants so far this year, and plans to close the year with a total of 90 openings (35 Burger King restaurants in Spain, 20 Burger King restaurants in Portugal, and 35 Popeyes restaurants), with accompanying investments of approximately €150 million, which It also includes efforts in digitalization (a new app launched) and sustainability (electric motorcycles, solar panels, chargers…).

The third lever of growth was the integration of the 159 restaurants that RBI acquired from Ibersol last year in the group’s periphery and which are located, above all, in Portugal. “The integration has worked very well, with increased sales and profitability,” says David Murciano.

The company will end 2023 with more than 900 of its own restaurants — which will exceed a hundred Popeyes — and a number approaching 1,250 points of sale if franchises are added. The RBI CFO highlights that the company is achieving this growth without hurting its profitability, as its EBITDA margin has remained at 17% of revenue, a figure that should be maintained at the end of the year.

“We are working on the level of costs and productivity. Moreover, although the comparison with last year is still higher, we have noticed a certain stability in costs over the past two or three months,” says Murciano.

Debt is also under control, despite the impact of rising interest rates, “with stable ratios and a noticeable improvement in cash generation, which will finance expansion. He says every restaurant we open generates cash in a period ranging between 6 and 12 months.” CFO of RBI.

Next plans

The company confirms its desire to achieve a turnover of 1,300 million euros with an EBITDA of more than 250 million at the end of fiscal 2023. It is also moving forward with the two main strategic plans on the table.

The first is to land in Italy in 2024 with Popeyes and then try to expand its presence to other brands. “It is an issue that is still under negotiation and has not been closed, but the matter is progressing well,” explains Murciano.

The second is to prepare the group to have a listed company structure for a possible initial public offering at the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025. “Our commitment is to have the company ready for this option, which also helps us at the level of internal operations or governance.”

Changes to the company’s board of directors and contracts such as those made by David Murciano himself, who joined RBI in March after having been CFO of Carrefour in Brazil (2021-2023) and in Spain (2018-2021), are explained in this direction. . .