Sapphire Foods India Limited (SAPPHIRE) share price

₹205.11 on NSE as of 2026-10-08. -4.61% on the day. market cap ₹6,592 Cr. 52-week range ₹150.42 to ₹301.40. Consumer Services.

www.sapphirefoods.in

Sapphire Foods Q1 FY27: ₹891 Cr of Revenue, ₹14 Cr of Profit, and a Merger Clock Ticking

At a glance

Sapphire Foods runs KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants across India and Sri Lanka under franchise. Consolidated revenue for the three months to June 2026 was ₹891 crore. The same quarter a year earlier brought ₹777 crore, a rise of 14.7%. Operating profit reached ₹140 crore against ₹113 crore a year before. The operating margin, operating profit measured as a share of sales, stood at 16%.

Net profit was ₹14 crore, against a loss of ₹1.8 crore a year earlier. The quarter to March 2026 had produced a loss of ₹12.6 crore. Earnings per share, the profit spread across every share in issue, came to ₹0.44.

Management calls this the second consecutive quarter of strong performance at the company. It says revenue growth of 15% was the best in eleven quarters. Adjusted EBITDA, or profit before interest, tax and depreciation, grew 37% on management's figures. Management calls that the best in fifteen quarters. It credits growth in sales at outlets open at least a year, across KFC, Pizza Hut India and Sri Lanka. Twenty-two net additions during the quarter took the restaurant count to 1,074 on 30 June 2026.

The full financial year to March 2026 reads differently from this quarter. Revenue for that year was ₹3,125 crore, with operating profit of ₹474 crore. The year still ended in a net loss of ₹32 crore. Depreciation of ₹392 crore and interest of ₹123 crore sit between the two figures.

On 1 January 2026 the board approved a scheme merging Sapphire into Devyani International. Holders of 100 Sapphire shares would receive 177 shares in Devyani. Sapphire's shares carry a face value of ₹2 and Devyani's ₹1. The scheme names 1 April 2026 as the appointed date. ICRA, a credit-rating agency, has placed its A and A2+ ratings on watch over the merger. ICRA calls the implications developing, meaning it has not settled which way the ratings move.

Introduction

Sapphire Foods started trading in September 2015 by buying about 270 KFC and Pizza Hut stores. Those outlets sat in India and Sri Lanka, and a group of private equity firms paid for them. The buyers handed the business to professional managers rather than running it themselves. The corporate shell is older, incorporated in November 2009 as Samarjit Advisors Private Limited. It was renamed Sapphire Foods India Private Limited in 2015.

The promoter is QSR Management Trust, which Samara Capital owns. Fresh money from Sapphire Foods Mauritius, Goldman Sachs and CX Partners diluted that trust's stake. Its holding fell to 7.24% in the year to March 2016. Edelweiss Group subscribed to compulsorily convertible preference shares in the year to March 2019. Those are shares that must convert into ordinary equity at an agreed date. The listing came in November 2021, through an offer for sale. An offer for sale moves existing shares, so promoters and certain investors took a partial exit.

The last eighteen months have been busy at the paperwork level. On 1 January 2026 the board approved the amalgamation into Devyani International. Alongside it sits a proposed secondary sale of about 18.5% by Sapphire's promoters. The buyer is Arctic International Private Limited, a Devyani group entity. The agreement lets that buyer assign the stake to a mutually agreed financial investor. Yum! Brands, which owns the brands Sapphire operates, has granted its approval. NSE issued a no-objection observation letter and BSE recorded no adverse observations in June 2026. The scheme remains subject to further regulatory and statutory approval. Management says the NCLT process alone runs seven to ten months. The NCLT is the tribunal that must sanction a merger between two Indian companies. Management says the Competition Commission of India runs its own review in parallel.

The same board meeting approved moving the registered office from Maharashtra to Haryana. Shareholders passed it by postal ballot on 8 February 2026. The Regional Director approved the move on 21 April 2026. The Registrar of Companies, Haryana registered the new Panchkula address on 18 May 2026. The restaurants did not move; only the letterhead did. Amar Patel, the chief technology officer, resigned during this stretch. BSE sought details of the resignation on 30 April 2026. Patel served notice until 1 June 2026.

Business model

Sapphire owns none of the brands it sells, and rents all three of them. It holds non-exclusive rights to run KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell outlets. Those rights cover India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. That makes it one of the two largest Yum! Brands franchisees in the subcontinent. The rent is a monthly royalty to Yum of 6.0% to 6.3% of net sales. That came to ₹196 crore in the year to March 2025, or 6.8% of sales. The two preceding years cost ₹169 crore and ₹136 crore. Those were 6.5% and 6.0% of sales respectively. A royalty on sales rises when sales rise, which is how the franchisor writes the agreement.

On 30 June 2026 the Indian estate held 591 KFC and 346 Pizza Hut restaurants. Sri Lanka added 126 Pizza Hut outlets and 11 Taco Bell ones. Over the nine months to December 2025, KFC India supplied about 67% of revenue. Pizza Hut India gave 17% and Sri Lanka 16%.

The three arms earn very differently at store level. Over those nine months, a KFC India restaurant averaged daily sales of ₹110,000. Its restaurant margin, measured before head office costs and depreciation, was 16.2%. Sri Lanka averaged ₹109,000 a day at 15.0%. Pizza Hut India averaged ₹42,000 a day at minus 2.4%.

Orders in the three months to December 2025 came 44% by delivery. Dine-in took 34% and takeaway 23%. Management describes the strategy as dine-in forward omni-channel, anchored on food quality and the dine-in experience. Management says the ₹99 Chicken Krisper Burger Meal is available only in dine-in and takeaway. It says the same of buy-one-get-one buckets on select days.

The supply chain is in-house, with five warehouses across cities. Vendor partners handle ingredients, packaging, warehousing and logistics. The company also uses Yum's global digital tools. Kiosks now sit in over 75% of KFC restaurants. The KFC app has 71.2 million downloads and 2.7 million monthly active users. Pizza Hut's has 29 million downloads and 0.8 million monthly users. The company targets ratings above 4.0 across Swiggy, Zomato and Google.

Quarterly results, balance sheet, cash flow, ratios, shareholding and the filings themselves are on the full page for Sapphire Foods India Limited.

Companies in the same industry as Sapphire Foods India Limited

Restaurants

All listed companies