Premier Capital plc, the Maltese-owned developmental licencee for McDonald’s in six European markets, has posted a pre-tax profit of €19 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, down from €28 million in 2019, in a year that saw McDelivery and McDrive underpin the business’ operational resilience.

In 2020, the group reviewed its capital commitments and instructed its teams to preserve li­quidity in view of the pandemic. But in order to maintain focus on its long-term vision, the group pursued its investment strategy, opening five restaurant and securing 100 per cent ownership of the Romanian business after acquiring the 10 per cent stake held by a single shareholder.

Last year, the group registered a 6.5 per cent decrease in turnover to realise revenue of €319 million, thanks to its team of 8,726 people in 159 restaurants in Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Romania. There were no COVID-19 related job losses – headcount fell by just 24 people from the beginning of 2020.

All markets experienced business disruption, with Malta reporting the highest impact with an overall decrease of 15.7 per cent compared to 2019. The other five markets registered single digit declines in sales: Romania and Greece of eight per cent, Lithuania 3.3 per cent, Estonia 2.2 per cent, and Latvia one per cent.

Premier Capital opened five new restaurants last year: three in Romania, one in Lithuania, and one in Greece. By the end of 2020, a total of 145 restaurants had deployed McDelivery.

Two restaurants in Greece were closed.

Although the outlook for 2021 is affected by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the severity of the impact is expected to be lower than that of 2020.

It is planned to open  eight new restaurants in 2021, three of which were opened in Romania, Greece and Lithuania by the end of the year’s first quarter.

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