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Disclaimer: This is for informational purposes and is not investment advice. Figures are taken from company disclosures and exchange data; valuation ratios include the author’s calculations based on cited inputs.
If you’re looking for the cleanest proof that growth can be self-funding, Figaro Culinary Group (FCG) just put it on the table: stronger revenues plus a fatter gross margin translated into a major surge in operating cash flow, even as the company absorbed the predictable cost of building a larger network.
The topline story: a bigger engine, not just a better lap time
FCG’s latest quarter showed revenue acceleration that looks structural rather than accidental. The group’s quarter revenue rose ~16.8% year-on-year to ₱1.69B, while six-month revenue increased ~12.9% to ₱3.20B.
What’s doing the heavy lifting? First, the Angel’s Pizza platform continues to dominate the growth narrative, posting ₱1.47B and roughly +27% in the quarter—an outsized contribution that suggests the brand is still gaining scale.
Second, expansion isn’t Metro Manila–centric: provincial revenues reached ₱772.6M (+22.4%), signalling that demand and store productivity are broadening geographically.
And then there’s the quieter growth lever that investors often love: franchising/royalties, which tend to be less capital-intensive. The quarter includes royalty income of about ₱9.98M, reinforcing that the franchise channel is contributing to the revenue stack.
Margin expansion: the mix shift that matters
Revenue growth is nice; revenue growth with margin expansion is better. FCG’s quarter saw gross profit climb to ₱808.6M (+28.4%), while the gross margin widened by ~4 percentage points—an outsized improvement compared with the pace of topline growth.
The margin upgrade appears rooted in product and channel mix rather than a single cost miracle. Management attributes the improvement to higher-margin products, a surge in single-order pizza, franchise expansion, and newer lines such as 3‑in‑1 coffee and packed meals—exactly the sort of portfolio tuning that lifts average unit economics even when inflation is noisy.
This is a crucial point: margins didn’t improve because costs fell; margins improved because what FCG sold (and how) got smarter. Even with direct costs rising ~7.89% to ₱877.2M—reflecting the reality of raw materials, labor, and network growth—the mix effects helped preserve and expand profitability.
From accounting profit to real cash: why operating cash flow jumped
Here’s the punchline: FCG’s operating cash flows rose to ₱633.5M, up sharply from the prior-year comparative level cited in the filing’s discussion—an eye-catching jump that changes how the market should think about funding capacity.
A key reason is simple math: higher revenues + higher gross margin enlarge the operating profit pool that becomes cash—provided working capital doesn’t eat it. And in this period, FCG appears to have kept the cash conversion story intact, with commentary pointing to efficient working capital and a stronger operating performance base.
The cash build is visible on the balance sheet too: cash and equivalents reached ₱456.98M as of Dec. 31, 2025, up ~54.7% from June 30, 2025, reinforcing that the earnings improvement wasn’t “paper profit.”
This matters for strategy. When operating cash flow accelerates, management can fund growth with less dependence on external financing—while still maintaining optionality for dividends and capex. FCG even declared/paid ₱100.6M in cash dividends during the period, which effectively stress-tests the sustainability of cash generation.
The cost side: growth isn’t free (and FCG is paying the toll)
Of course, the market never gets something for nothing. As the store footprint expands, operating expenses (OPEX) rise—and in FCG’s case, they rose decisively. The filing shows OPEX up ~30% year-on-year to ₱1.01B (six months) and up ~42.3% to ₱443.3M for the quarter, with the increases tied largely to advertising, commissions, and depreciation—classic scaling costs.
More telling is the efficiency ratio: OPEX as a percentage of revenue increased from ~23% to ~29% in the quarter. That’s the tradeoff investors should watch. Higher spending can be value-accretive if it builds durable demand (marketing), extends the moat (R&D/product development), and supports a broader network (admin and store support). But if OPEX grows faster than gross profit for too long, it compresses operating leverage.
FCG’s current quarter suggests a transitional phase: the company is spending into expansion while mix-driven gross margin gains are doing the job of protecting the bottom line. Profitability still improved—net income after tax rose ~10.67% to ₱245.74M, with management noting profit margin held at around 15% despite the heavier overhead.
Financing and inflation: the background risks
Two additional pressures deserve a line in any sober column. First, finance costs increased (quarter finance cost ₱38.7M, +37% YoY) as the group used borrowings to support expansion—an acceptable outcome if new stores generate returns above the cost of capital. The filing also indicates short-term loans supporting store openings (with stated interest rates of ~5.5%–8%) and no covenant issues—helpful, but still a cost that must be earned back through store economics.
Second, cost inflation is real: management notes pressures from raw materials, minimum wage hikes, and broader inflation, which can reappear in direct costs and OPEX.
What to watch next: the “good” kind of spending
For investors, the forward-looking question isn’t whether OPEX rose—it did. The question is whether the spending is building an engine that sustains:
- Can the product mix (higher-margin SKUs, bundled meals, coffee lines) continue to lift gross margin?
- Will franchising/royalty streams grow as a higher-margin layer on top of company-owned expansion?
- Does the network keep scaling (the group opened 9 new stores, bringing the total to 231) without sacrificing unit economics?
- Most importantly, can FCG maintain the new standard of cash conversion, because the most investable growth stories are the ones that pay for themselves?
Bottom line: FCG’s quarter reads like a case study in how mix upgrades can amplify the benefit of revenue growth, generating a meaningful boost in operating cash flows even amid the expense surge that comes with expansion. The next chapters will be about discipline: converting today’s spending into tomorrow’s operating leverage.
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