Tantalizers struggling to curtail losses

Tantalizers Plc, the only indigenous fast food company listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has con­tinued to struggle to curtail losses, even as the board of directors and management are making frantic efforts to stem the downturn.

A look at the company's first and second quarter un-audited results for the ongoing 2014 financial year shows that the socio-economic and political problems facing the country are having serious negative effects on the company's per­formance.

Unfortunately, the company has not been able to get respite regarding declining profitabil­ity, due to high cost of materi­als and rising operational costs arising from high interest rate, ageing restaurants assets and high cost of power generation coupled with non-availability of disposable income among targeted customers and insecu­rity in the country.

The company's half-year re­sult for the period ended June 30, 2014, shows that losses increased from N286.218 mil­lion in 2013 to N316.202 mil­lion in 2014. Revenue dropped from N1.771 billion in 2013 to N1.569 billion in 2014. On its first quarter result for the pe­riod ended March 31, 2014, as the company posted N108.985 million loss, which is below N598.449 million loss record­ed same period in 2013. Rev­enue dropped from N898.702 million in 2013 to N798.744 million in 2014. The Sun