The corona crisis hits the catering company DO&CO with full force in all business areas. Gastronomy, hospitality, travel and aviation are among the worst-hit industries worldwide. At DO&CO, this led to a drop in sales of 75 percent to 189.9 million euros and a net loss of almost 36 million euros in the first three quarters of 2020/2021. The number of employees shrank by around 3000 people. An improvement in the fourth quarter is not in sight.
Confidence through new partners and projects
“Even if no improvement is expected for the fourth quarter of the 2020/2021 financial year, the DO&CO management assumes that the markets will gradually open up afterwards,” said the unaudited financial report for the first three quarters, which was released on Thursday has been published. New major customers such as Delta Air Lines in Detroit or Jet Blue in Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs as well as the intensification of the business relationship with Qatar Airways and Etihad give the company confidence.
In the other two divisions – “International Event Catering” and “Restaurants, Lounges & Hotel” – DO&CO is also looking at new projects such as a new restaurant complex and boutique hotel in downtown Munich and other gourmet retail activities in Vienna , and soon also in Munich and London, hope to grow. “The increasing number of vaccinations will therefore not only spur the catering business, but also significantly boost all activities in the international event catering division,” says the company, in which Attila Dogudan holds around a third of the shares.
3000 jobs cut
In order to dive through the crisis, DO&CO has significantly reduced its fixed costs. The number of employees fell in the first three quarters of 2020/2021 compared to the previous year by almost 3,000 to 8075 (full-time equivalents). To finance this, the caterer has also decided to issue convertible bonds in the amount of 100 million euros.
After three fiscal quarters, sales at DO&CO continued to decline. In the “Airline Catering” division, revenues fell by 75 percent to 134.5 million euros. Sales in the “International Event Catering” division also fell by around 75 percent to 29.4 million euros, while in the “Restaurants, Lounges & Hotel” division, sales fell by 75 percent to 26 million euros.
The operating result (EBIT) at group level was therefore negative after three quarters at around 25 million euros, after an operating profit of almost 49 million euros was achieved in the same period of the previous year. If you only look at the third quarter, DO&CO has returned to the black. The bottom line was a profit of 1.7 million euros – after 6.5 million euros in the same quarter of the previous year.
