Joseph Esau, chairman of Prestige Holdings. - file

Prestige Holdings Limited, a fast-food company in Trinidad whose holdings include the KFC, Pizza Hut and TGI Friday franchises, is reporting improved sales of TT$350 million (J$4.2 billion) over six months, a 17 per cent increase year on year.

But Prestige has taken a big hit on the bottom line, losing TT$8.6 million in the period ending May 31, resulting from a TT$13.3 million write-off.

The company, whose operations extend beyond its home country, exited the Puerto Rico market in April 2008.

Losses

In the previous year, in the period ending May 2007, Prestige recorded losses of TT$4.7 million on its Puerto Rico operation, which deepened to TT$8.7 million by the end of its financial year in November.

Earnings from continuing operations were TT$4.6 million for the half year, a third of the TT$14 million for the comparable period of 2007.

"These results were generated from an average of 84 restaurants, compared with 77 in the same period of 2007, and we ended the period with 85 restaurants, excluding Puerto Rico," said chairman Joseph Esau in a statement to shareholders.

Prestige operates 52 KFC restaurants in Trinidad and Tobago, and 11 in Dominican Republic, but profitability in that segment, said Esau, was impacted by a 'significant