La Kaffa International (2732-TW), a food and beverage chain, announced its earnings for last year yesterday (March 7th).  The net income after taxes was NT$166 million, a year-to-year increase of 9.41%. The EPS of NT$5.02 was a record high. The company also proposed to issue NT$4.5 per share in dividends, which includes NT$4 in cash and NT$0.5 in stock.

La Kaffa International maintains a high dividend payout ratio, reaching almost 80%.  Based on its closing price for today at NT$89, the dividend yield is about 4.5%.

The company stated that for continuous growth in 2018, one of its brands, "Chatime", will be active in its global expansion.  It will make its first move into the African market and also focus on the European and other emerging markets in Latin America.

After the cooperation with China's Re Light Management, a company based in Hangzhou, the company consolidated Re Light's tea brands, "Hei Long Tang" and "GOMAX", into part of its earnings in January.  The two brands from Re Light are expected to grow their number of stores in China by 30% this year. Together with the global expansion of "Chatime", the total number of stores will approach 2,500, becoming one of the global market leaders in handmade drinks.

As for market planning for regular meals, La Kaffa International is actively expanding through "Wagokoro Tonkatsu Anzu Ginza", "Duan Chun Zhen beef noodle" and "Osaka Ohsho", the brands to whom it serves as a distributing agent, and the results have been improving.  For now, the restaurant business contributes to more than 30% of the company's overall revenue. It opened its first Shanghai branch of ""Duan Chun Zhen beef noodle", indicating that the company's restaurant business has officially entered the global market.

La Kaffa International stated that it strives to become a global food and beverage brand platform.  Besides opening new locations of its current brands, it will continue to add new food and beverage brands and seek other collaboration opportunities.

La Kaffa International profit soars to record high last year, right at half of its face value.  Planning to issue NT$4 per share in cash 

By Wan-Ning Wang of cnYES in Taipei 2018/03/07 19:34

Chairman Yao-Hui Wang of La Kaffa International (provided by cnYES)

Daily candlestick chart of La Kaffa International