KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 21): The Israel-Palestine conflict boycott of the Starbucks franchise dragged Berjaya Food Bhd (BFood) down to a record net loss of RM42.58 million for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2023 (2QFY2024) against a net profit of RM35.49 million a year earlier.

Earnings were also hurt by a RM10.5 million one-off loss from the disposal of its entire equity interest in Jollibean Foods Pte Ltd, according to the food and beverage group’s bourse filing on Wednesday.

Quarterly revenue fell 38.19% to RM182.55 million versus RM295.32 million previously, on lower sales because of the boycott.

Likewise, for the six months ended Dec 31, 2023 (6MFY2024), BFood fell into the red with a net loss of RM23.55 million as compared to a net profit of RM70.19 million in the same period a year earlier, while revenue fell 20.28% to RM461.09 million from RM578.37 million. 

Despite the poor financial performance for the first two quarters of FY2024, BFood said the group expects its operating performance to show improvement in the remaining two quarters.

“Furthermore, the board believes that the operating performance will rebound and regain momentum, viewing the current situation as short-term and anticipating positive progress going forward,” it added.

Shares in BFood ended 1.5 sen lower or 2.56% to 57 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM1.11 billion.