Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's the wrong slide. Good morning, everyone. Hope you're all well. We're just getting settled in. I want to just extend a warm welcome to everyone that's online this morning, as well as all our guests that are here in person today. A warm welcome to everyone, local and international, our franchisees, international franchise partners, investors, business associates, and shareholders. I would like to acknowledge our board of directors and our Spur Corp executives, who have worked in unison to guide and inspire us to deliver the results you will see today. I personally like to thank Mike Bosman, our chairman, for his continued wisdom and direction. Mike, thank you for your astute and meaningful support on all the solutions we consider and opportunities we explore.
We are truly blessed to have you at the helm of Spur Corp. Welcome to our most valued lady, our Remco committee chair, Dr. Shirley Zinn, who is also present this morning in person. I would like to express my thanks to all the executives here today, as well as each and every member of the Spur Corp team, who have demonstrated their commitment to our business, and through their passion and absolute hard work, have worked closely with our network to deliver the results we are about to review. Finally, not to forget, our acknowledgement to the customers who vote for us by stepping into our restaurants daily, as our franchisees and their restaurant teams, a way to welcome them and offer them a great dining experience.
This morning, it gives me great pleasure to officially open up the presentation for our full year fiscal 2023 results for the period July 2022 to June 2023. Cristina Teixeira, my left-hand lady, my right-hand lady, our CFO, joins me to present the financial and segmental review after the business review. Cristina, welcome once again. We will end the presentation today with an opportunity to engage with you on either any further questions. Spur Corp's total group restaurant sales of ZAR 9.5 billion increased by 23%. Group revenue increased by 27.4%, and comparable profit before tax increased by 46.7%. Pleasingly, comparable headline earnings per share increased by 48%. The board has approved and declared a final dividend for fiscal 2023 at ZAR 1.10 per share to shareholders.
This represents a total dividend for fiscal 2023 at ZAR 1.92. I will now provide you with an overview of the business performance in fiscal 2023 and some performance highlights achieved by the respective brands. These year-end results mark the third final year results presented by the current executive leadership. One could title the three-year business cycle as the fixing growth period, a time of resilience as we emerged from the pandemic and the market dynamic had shifted. Our priority in this past cycle was to regain lost turnover due to the pandemic, increase profitability, and fix many of the brutal truths facing the business. It was a period for executing better and mapping out a clear direction for the business.
Building brands that lead the experience was at the core of our business model as we embarked on a journey of a clearly articulated purpose, leading for the greater good. As we enter this new season with a planned new growth curve for Spur Corporation, our transformation journey of leading for the greater good is well poised in a market where social instability and economic constraints have heightened expectations for a better world for all. I outline an overview of all the activities that our leaders, teams, and franchisees have delivered to endorse our values and principles. These ensure that Spur Corp and its wider network is and continues to be a place where equality, diversity, inclusion, and belonging is experienced. We started our journey in 2021, defining our intentions for the future.
The principles of leading for the greater good were embraced swiftly by many team members and franchisees. With the positive results visible in the company and network, the purpose of this journey has to be accelerated. Our aim is to broaden the impact of this journey into our network, where more than 24,000 restaurant staff can also benefit from these improvements with our franchisee support. This will ultimately reach the hearts of our people's extended communities. Key metrics are used to monitor the transformation shift and include our current ratio of Spur Corp and company-owned employees. Out of a total of 445 people, our group reflects a ratio of 53% female and 76% Black team members. Our Black franchisees now represent 29% of the franchisee quota.
Our commitment to building an ethos around our values has been monitored by an externally conducted culture survey each year, which shows incremental improvements. This confirms that our people are happier and more satisfied than a few years ago. We continue to monitor market-related pay levels and benefits and have made some dramatic adjustments to take care of all our people, particularly the lower paid individuals who are struggling to make ends meet with high food prices and increasing transport costs. In addition, the children of our Spur Corp employees are supported by a 100% paid bursary by the company for all their children through their school careers. Our commitment to people first and our continued investment in learning and development continues. In fiscal 2023, ZAR 4.7 million was invested in various programs to upskill and develop our people.
As announced previously, in September last year, 17 rising leaders, our next tier of talent in the organization, graduated from a UCT management development program. More recently, two of these leaders are now our brand COOs, one of our leaders, Daryl, has been promoted to Group Procurement Head, reporting to our current supply chain executive, Robin. Congratulations, Daryl. There are more of our dynamic rising leaders, all in line for the next opportunity that will arise with their careers with Spur Corp. All in God's meticulous timing. Patience. Our Ops Cadet program, an exciting new investment, was launched in June this year. This was developed with two primary objectives: One, to fill the pipeline of operations management, which play a critical role in the franchise company. Two, to create opportunities for unemployed individuals who wish to embark on a career in franchise operations.
18 candidates commenced this 12-month program, which qualifies for an NQF Level 5 accreditation. These individuals were all unemployed, and four held junior positions in restaurants. They are now employed by us and undergoing theoretical and practical training with Spur Corp. We thank our Ops Cadets champions, our PLC division, and our valued franchisees for their support on this meaningful initiative. Our next group of rising leaders have already been identified by ExCo and will commence their UCT program in July next year. The group and our franchise network actively drive social and environmental initiatives nationally. Our Spur Foundation operates with a board of trustees chaired by Moshe Apleni. Our Spur Foundation manager ensures that all brands support various initiatives aligned with their brand positioning.
In addition to the contributions by Spur Corp and various fundraising events, the main source of income of the Spur Foundation is generated by customers' contribution of ZAR 1 from selected menu items. We are pleased to announce that Spur Corp contributed ZAR 600,000 towards the training of 124 early childhood development principals and teachers at under-resourced daycare centers in Alexandra, Phokeng in the Northwest, and Khayelitsha here in the Western Cape. The Full Tummy Fund continues to provide food for 950 children daily. In addition, the Spur brand participated in three regional events for World Hunger Day and packed 157,000 meals for communities without food. This past year, Spur celebrated its 55th birthday.
Instead of investing in consumer birthday offers, this year, the Franchisee Marketing Fund contributed to arranging birthday parties for approximately 9,000 underprivileged children that certainly enjoyed the much-loved birthday Spur experience. We acknowledge our franchisees and their restaurant teams for making this happen. In our other brands, John Dory's Zero Waste initiative continues to take the high ground on environmental awareness, and beach cleanups continue to build awareness in communities. Panarottis, which is big on family and big on caring, continue to support children with wheelchairs and posture devices to support their special needs. The group continues to build on transformative and inclusive environmental initiatives that addresses material matters relating to the environment, social, and governance issues that impact business and its stakeholders.
Each year, we widen our knowledge pool, ensuring that all stakeholders are informed and participate in ESG initiatives, unifying our purpose of leading for the greater good. The group's environmental sustainability focuses on 10 key strategic areas, supported by many initiatives, including activities such as the Used Oil Collection Program, which is supported by 64% of the group's restaurants, as well as effective on-site waste management at our regional offices and facilities. Our partnership with the WWF and SASSI is central to our commitment to managing our precious ocean resources. Through this collaboration, we have already taken major steps towards reviving the state of our fish stocks through support for sustainable fishing practices. Enterprise development initiatives supported by the group during this year included procurement of product from small business that supply items such as chicken, vegetables, and baked biscuits. Two quick examples to share.
One, shown on the slide, was gingerbread cookies. 1.5 tons of them have been purchased from Khayelitsha Cookies, and in Gauteng, our franchisees purchase fresh vegetables from a company called Black Token Foods to the value of ZAR 2.5 million. to support our other environmental initiatives, and supporting our breakfast sales, cage-free eggs alone is close to 2 million eggs. There are a lot more eggs purchased, but 2 million cage-free. We continue to lead as the largest casual dining restaurant franchise group, with 639 outlets trading across South Africa and across 14 other African countries, as well as Mauritius and the Middle East. The group, as you know, trades with 7 well-established and diverse brands, including, of course, our most iconic family restaurant brand, Spur.
The group's core competency in casual dining hospitality remains our strategic competitive advantage in the restaurant industry here and on the continent. The group also has presence in the fast casual segment with the RocoMamas brand, and the specialty dining segment with its bespoke brands of Hussar Grill, Casa Bella, and Nikos. We now have 91 restaurants in the international market, with the Panarottis that opened recently in Zambia. Most of the group's restaurants are owned by franchise groups owning multiple restaurant brands. The local franchise network includes 99 franchisees who own a 1 restaurant. Our largest local black multiple owner now has 14 restaurants. The largest multiple by brand is reflected on the left of the screen. Our largest multiple store owner has 35 restaurants. On the international portfolio, we now have 82 franchise partners.
The Spur brand is the foundation brand and the mother brand of the company, represents 52% of the restaurant count and 69% of the group's South African restaurant sales. This is followed by Roco's and Panarottis, which represent 17 and 18% of the restaurant count respectively, and each contribute 10% to the South African restaurant sales. International restaurants represent 10% of the group sales. The group's network development strategy, known as the R8 model, which focuses on restaurant revamps, relocation, and revival strategies to evolve the brand's networks into leading experience for customers, is gaining traction across all the brands. It has now become a mantra in our business. In South Africa, 22 restaurants were opened during the financial year, including 9 Spurs, 5 RocoMamas, and 3 Panarottis.
Panarottis' new restaurant design, with its Tuscan-inspired decor, has been well received by customers. In the specialty portfolio, four new Hussar Grills were opened, which supports the growth strategy of increasing market share in Gauteng. A total of 20 local restaurants did unfortunately close because of marginal performance and the inability to sustain current market conditions. The commitment of franchisees to keep brands updated was evident, with 72 revamps and relocations undertaken during the year, at an investment of ZAR 98 million by our franchisees. To prepare for the year ahead, we have already appointed two additional project managers and are looking to bolster our new business department for future expansion plans. The group's international growth strategy continues to gain momentum. Six new restaurants opened internationally in the second half of the financial year, and four restaurants opened in the first half.
For RocoMamas, these included new stores in India, Saudi Arabia, the DRC, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, two new Rocos in Ghana. In addition, one Panarottis was opened in Nigeria and 2 in Zambia. Four international stores were closed during this financial year. The Western Cape represents approximately 20% of the turnover in South Africa. The recent taxi strike in the Western Cape disrupted trading for 7 days, with 97 of the 116 franchise restaurants in the Western Cape being affected by a loss of turnover of approximately ZAR 4.5 million, and ZAR 4.5 million, I'm referring to restaurant sales. Many employees were unable to work. Restaurants either traded with fewer staff or were forced to close, while the disruption resulted in reduced foot traffic in restaurants and malls.
Many franchisees with affected stores adopted the same approach as our company-owned stores and housed staff to accommodate them close by the restaurants for their safety. Delays were experienced in the supply chain and distribution, while production at the group's source manufacturing plant was halted for four days. I acknowledge our franchisees and management for their commitment of keeping our customers and staff safe. Load shedding has negatively affected consumer confidence, retail spending, business investments, and international perceptions. The South African Reserve Bank estimates that load shedding has reduced the economic growth by 1.4 percentage points in 2022 and forecasts a further loss of two percentage points in this year. South African consumers, however, are growing more resilient towards load shedding and are taking action in response to the increased load shedding schedule by shopping and planning for outages.
People spend as much as their household income can afford on non-perishable goods, smaller packs and alternative power sources, such as gas stoves, torches, and for those who can, inverter batteries and solar panels. While many market reports have been published, we needed to understand the behavior of our Spur customers, as well as the new low, new customers that load shedding was attracting. A consumer research study that our marketing division conducted in early June to understand the dynamics of consumer behavior during load shedding, revealed a frustrated and agitated customer, 41% of whom chose to stay home during load shedding and make a meal plan ahead of time. After takeaway shopping, visiting a sit-down restaurant was rated as the second option. 25% of consumers cited their choice of visiting a sit-down restaurant if it is in the vicinity of their residence.
Pleasingly, 97% of the group's local restaurant network has alternative power solutions. These consist mainly of diesel generators, while some stores have a hybrid solution of batteries and inverters. Where infrastructure permits, a few franchisees have installed solar panels. The cost of diesel per restaurant now equates to approximately 1% of restaurant sales, and with some restaurants in isolated nodes reporting diesel costs as high as 4%-6% of sales. The group continues to engage with its network and considers, on a monthly basis, requests for a short-term financial support for franchisees. Consumer research has confirmed the reason why consumers choose Spur as the destination during load shedding. While the always-on grills are among the top reasons, consumers are still selecting Spur for the attributes it offers outside of load shedding.
Spur's service experience strengths have continued to attract customers to the brand, alongside attributes such as great entertainment for my children, a home-like environment, regular promotions, and a hearty, healthy meal range. In addition to alternative power measures, we also have approximately 200 restaurants where franchisees have invested in additional water capacity, most of them enough to trade for 2-3 days. The core of the group's business model is to ensure that brands lead the experience. The offering of high standard of family dining experience continues, supported by aggressive marketing activities to ensure that the brands maximize awareness and usage. Despite the pressure on consumer disposable income, Spur, Panarottis, and the specialty dining portfolio produced local sales growths ranging from 18.6%-42.2%.
For the full fiscal 2023 year, as we saw before, franchise restaurant sales in South Africa grew by 22.5%. In the first half of 2023, the franchise restaurant sales grew by 31.5%. Although economic conditions remain challenging in the face of high inflation, the group's business model continued to demonstrate resilience. In the second half of the year, restaurant sales increased by 15.1%. The group's international growth strategy continues to gain momentum. The international portfolio has delivered a growth of 78.8% using a constant exchange rate. Africa still represents the dominant contribution at 70%, followed by Mauritius, which represents 21% of the international business. The group restaurant turnover delivered an overall system-wide growth of 23% over the previous year. Like-on-like growth was 28.1% for international.
If we can just have the next slide, I think. 28.1% and 20% for South Africa. Menu inflation across the various brands range from 3.5%-5.5%. The business focus has also delivered improved supply chain results for franchisees, despite challenging marketing conditions. with inflation, food inflation that peaked at 14.4% in March and moderated to 7.8% at year-end. Savings of approximately ZAR 19.7 million for franchisees have been realized for the financial year through improved warehousing and distribution costs, as well as product and pricing improvements negotiated in collaboration with the group's valued supply chain.
I acknowledge our suppliers and distribution partner, Vector Logistics, who work closely with our supply chain division to navigate their way through such a turbulent year of a weakening South African rand, oil price hikes, chicken supply crisis, frozen chip challenges, and high increases on core products such as chicken and ribs. It is forecast that food inflation will settle on around the 10% mark for the forthcoming period. I will now briefly present some key performance indicators per brand, and in each section, I will also call out some group statistics relevant to all the brands. South Africa's love for the Spur brand was evident once again, with an increase of 24.9% of sales. Customer loyalty programs have gained significant traction, and consumers seek added value.
This has resulted in an increase in voucher redemption at a time when consumers are seeking value from us, too. The growth of voucher redemptions moved from 36% in June last year to the current 70%. The group now has 1.9 million active family loyal members, which has contributed to the group's growth in the past year. Group customer count was up by 13%, which equates to an additional 2 million customers compared to the number of customers served in 2019. Growth was achieved on all day parts. Pleasingly, the group celebrated a milestone of exceeding ZAR 1 billion mark sales in breakfast sales this year, with Spur reporting a 45% increase in the breakfast day part, followed by Panarottis, up by 12%. Good mornings have become pizza mornings at Pana's.
Lunch trade remains the primary trading period, representing 52% of restaurant sales. Dinner remains the highest day part of specialty restaurants. In wave 5 of the 6-month Kantar study, Spur reached an alarming awareness score of 99%. The authentic and engaging Springbok Rugby sponsorship has elevated Spur to a new level. Sports sponsorship has produced an advertising ROI beyond our expectations. Recently, an additional sport was added to the sponsorship strategy. The Spur brand has established a sponsorship relationship with under 17 school netball. Bongiwe Msomi is one of the most revered athletes in South African sport, having just led the Proteas team through an historic Netball World Cup on home soil, which added another memorable chapter to her illustrious career. As part of our ongoing commitment to promote happy and active lifestyles for children, this sponsorship builds on our existing focus on developing school netball.
Allow me a short commercial break that captures how we have won over consumers' hearts with our Springboks sponsorship.
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika.
Here's one Springboks.
Malupakangishisu kukhanya.
There you go, guys.
Izwo yimitima yethu, Nkosi. Dear Springbok Spur mascot team, hello, my name is Hani from Rietfontein. My name is Keisha Thifane Zwane.
Hi, my name is Tsego, and I reside in Kempton Park.
I am a huge Springbok supporter, and I am a proud young South African.
Here are some of the reasons I think I should be a Springbok mascot.
I'm in the perfect form to be a mascot, and I'm light, fast, and easy to throw into the air wherever.
Rugby unites our country. It doesn't matter who you are or where you live.
It's all for me, for us all, some my elder, Eben, Franco, and Ox.
When the Springboks won, like, we jumped, we went, "Yo!" We were so crazy, like, the, the neighbors even came until us to keep quiet.
Best is for the house rack stall to reke.
The reke and geere van Spur's buffalo wings and nachos hang in the air. Ek en Pappa kyk Springbok rugby. Groete om Ny Pretoria.
Something that touched me about this letter as well is he wants to be a Springbok. He wants to be a doctor, not for himself, but to make his family proud.
Like, for us, as South Africans, we probably live in one of the toughest countries in the world, given our challenges, and I think, you know, it means, it means a lot, like, It gives us hope.
Mama, what do you think?
What do you think?
What would you do?
It's gonna be tough, eh? I don't even know who to pick.
I think we make them all mascots.
We agree, there's only one clear winner.
Hey, it's Ox Nche here. Can you meet us at the Spur? Hi. Leana, we got some good news for you today.
You are our captains mascot.
Oh, thank you so much!
You're...
Wow!
Captain.
Yeah.
You'll be walking right in front.
Wow. Wow.
What is your full name?
Your full name is Reetshego Faritse Osman.
Ah, that's impressive.
Then yours is, Vincent Philip Koch.
That is unbelievable. Oh, even pronounced my surname perfect.
My hearty congratulations and applause goes to the marketing team and the advertising agency. Just awesome work, guys. Well done. Awesome. I also would like to wish the Bokke all the best success at the Rugby World Cup in Paris next month. In South Africa, volume growth was mainly driven by the Spur brand, which produced a stellar performance. The brand has delivered a high level of marketing activity, including driving value-added campaigns, kid, kids' birthday parties, toy offers, and strong outdoor advertising exposure. Franchisees, supported by our marketing team, have certainly earned those wings. The Spur wing, double-dipped in Durky sauce, remains a South African favorite and Kevin's. Despite the challenge with chicken supply this year, Spur wings sold on any meal combination grew by 30% on previous year.
I'll now move on to some of the Spur revamps and new store openings in the second half, which include Thunder Eagle Spur, which is an extension to our store in Carnival City, where we were offered additional space adjacent to the main restaurant. Golden Creek in Mtuba Mall in KZN, which is a wonderful size restaurant, around 350 square meters or so. Really beautiful. I was there a few weeks ago. Santa Catalina in Ladysmith, a revamped store, Arkansas Spur in Nelspruit. It's not in the West End, Nelspruit. Then, of course, Palomino Spur, one of our 2 restaurants in Sun City. This particular one is located in the entertainment center of Sun City. We now move on to RocoMamas, our most admired fast casual brand, known for its feisty individuality.
RocoMamas continues to set itself apart in the burger segment, or should I say smash, with its unique smash burgers and Roco Mayo. In the past year, we have appointed a dynamic marketing manager, Tanashi, and under the leadership of Vuyo, the brand has developed a new marketing strategy, initially focused on establishing the value proposition with a RocoMamas Smash Star range. This will be followed by extensive campaigns that will promote the limited edition iconic smash burgers, plus customized menu items such as G-Shakes and Killer Waffles. Load shedding has fueled consumers' ongoing demand for convenience, and the group's local takeaway sales now represent 15% of total restaurant sales, with 52% as collect orders, which is obviously at a better margin than the third-party delivery aggregators. The balance of the takeaway is delivered by Mr D and Uber Eats.
The largest contributors for the takeaway sales remains RocoMamas at 47 and Panos at 35%. This also confirms, once again, that consumers' best choice of takeaway items remain burgers and pizzas. Enhanced online ordering is enabled by our new branded apps. RocoMamas has also recently launched a loyalty program, ideal for the smash fanatics, who want to earn their rewards for the more they eat. This year, RocoMamas will celebrate its 10th birthday. The team is preparing for a spectacular celebration. Spectacular is the adjective most used by this team. The 2 RocoMamas drive-throughs in Little Falls and Queenswood, Pretoria, have been upgraded recently in terms of their drive-through menus. Queenswood is preparing for the World Cup with a new outside seating veranda with a large screen television set. This was a photo taken yesterday with the building of a new seating space underway.
There are some examples. We just have a look at the digital menus that are launching shortly, which are really awesome. I'd like to just show a few examples of the recently revamped RocoMamas restaurants. The first one in Sun City, the second one was in Westville Mall in KZN, then Somerset Mall, where the restaurant relocated and was revamped with that move. The group now has 107 RocoMamas restaurants, 85 in South Africa and 22 in the international portfolio. The brand has great appeal to the youthful African market. The photograph on this slide is the RocoMamas in Bulawayo. I was there recently with the team, and it has the most awesome store design, depicting a RocoMamas train station experience. The train tracks on the floor, however, cannot be seen in these photos.
We also have a new RocoMamas in build currently in Cork Corner, Harare, due to open early December. Within the new fiscal, another RocoMamas is planned for Harare in a main street, and the brand will also make its debut in Tanzania. John Dory's. This year, a newly appointed advertising level one accredited agency, MullenLowe, was appointed to work with our JD marketing team to reposition the brand in the consumer's mind, and this strategy is now underway. Restaurant profitability improved, and new product innovations were launched, such as the seafood trinchado and the popular prawn and chorizo dish. One restaurant was opened at a strategic site in Northgate, Johannesburg. However, the brand was negatively impacted by the loss of a high-volume site in Gateway. New store openings are imminent in Zevenwacht, Cape Town, Wilson's Wharf, KZN, and Three Rivers in Vereeniging, Gauteng.
This year, however, John Dory's delivered an improved operating margin and a 72% growth in profit. We thank all the competitor QSR brands for teaching South Africans to eat pizza, and as consumers move up the economic ladder, they also enjoy eating pizza at a table. The growth of the Panarottis pizza brand is evident of this. With 78 restaurants in South Africa, the brand has delivered a growth of 18.8% in this past year. The repositioning and transformation of Panarottis has been supported by exceptional menu innovation, solid marketing activity, and improved restaurant profitability. Panarottis leads the way with the highest VK brand, virtual kitchens. Pizza Pug has 70 participating Panarottis and has grown by 8% in the past year. Just Wingz followed with the second highest contribution, followed by Bento's Burger.
I would now like to show you a few of the Panarottis new restaurants. Richards Bay, which was a revamp. Kimberley, looking really awesome. Alberton, the new market site in Alberton, which is in Johannesburg, and Springs, which is a new restaurant, and N1 City revamp, which is hot off the press. This opened last night. I couldn't even attend. The team were having pizza there, and they called me. I hope to have breakfast there on the weekend. The new Panarottis look has been well received. The new and revamped stores are delivering a growth of between 25%-35%, with some as high as 45%. By the end of the calendar year, we will have 60 new look Panarottis.
To complement the growth of Panarottis in South Africa, the largest international market for the Panarottis brand is Zambia. In Zambia, the group has 27 restaurants, 19 of which are Panarottis Pizza. We recently celebrated the opening of the nineteenth store. We congratulate our master franchise partner from Zambia, who is with us today. Welcome, Kayton. Good to have you in South Africa. Despite the currency depreciation in Zambia, the country's turnover growth was 32% over previous year in South African rands. The specialty brand portfolio of 26 Hussar Grills, 6 Casa Bella, and 8 Nikos restaurants increased sales by an incredible 42.2%, driven by strong performance following an increase in both local and international tourism. I want to stop here just to commend the leadership and team of this brand for an awesome performance. Well done, guys.
Hussar Grill continues with its growth strategy to increase its market share in the inland division. In 2024, Hussar Grill will celebrate its 60th birthday, a new generation restaurant will mark the 60th occasion. On the 27th of July, 2023, the group announced on SENS that it had concluded heads of agreement to acquire a 60% interest in the restaurant brands Doppio Zero, Piza e Vino, and Modern Tailors, with a portfolio of 37 franchise and company-owned restaurants, as well as Doppio's bakery and central supply business. Due to regulatory requirements, it is estimated that the closing date is likely to be mid-October. We welcome our soon-to-be business partners, Miki Milovanovic and Paul Christie, founders of the Doppio Group, who started 20 years ago. Miki, who is with us today, welcome, Miki, to the Spur family. May our association be a lucrative one.
The strategic intent of partnering with the Doppio Group was to strengthen our positioning in daytime specialty and enter the coffee specialty marketing. Demonstrated in the slide, our current portfolio consists of 40 specialty restaurants who dominate the evening trade at 71%. The Doppio Group enjoys a high share of the day trade, which complements our current portfolio. The Doppio collection consists of 27 Doppio Zero restaurants styled on European cafe culture. These stores now offer artisanal and exclusive bakeries and full-service restaurants with Mediterranean specialties and Italian flair. Nine Piza e Vino restaurants, cafe-style pizzerias with an al fresco seating for more bespoke and trendy pizza lovers. The one Modern Tailors restaurant, which is currently a pilot site in Rosebank, Johannesburg, is inspired by Indian cuisine.
This is just a concept of the Melrose Pizza e Vino store that is currently in build in Melrose, in Johannesburg. Just another view of it, really a beautiful next generation restaurant, which I hope we can invite you to once we reach effective date. To close off this first section of the results presentation, I applaud our franchisees and marketing team for this amazing long list of awards obtained in this past year. Most of them are from Spur, the biggest brand. RocoMamas achieved a brilliant accolade, which is the Orange Index Award for the best winner of the customer experience franchise restaurant for this year. Well done, RocoMamas, and of course, Best of Joburg for Best Shakes, Best Burger, Best Takeaway Burger. Khululeko, the only thing we have to do now is change this award to Smash.
Well done to everyone. I'd like to now hand over to Cristina, who's gonna take you through the numbers that I think you've all been waiting to hear. Cristina, good to have you here again, and over to you. Thank you.
Thank you, Val. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Val. We begin with the income statement. As Val mentioned, system-wide sales for the year reported at ZAR 8.6 billion, 23% higher than the 2022 financial year of ZAR 7 billion. The year-on-year increase in turnover of 23%... Sorry, I'm just waiting for my slide. Keep going. Gabby, just move on a little bit. Perfect. The year-on-year increase in turnover of 23% translated directly to an increase in group revenue of 27%, as you can see on the slide, with total group revenue at just over ZAR 3 billion for the year. The disclosure of revenue by nature of activities provided-... with ZAR 2 billion of the ZAR 3 billion being revenue generated from sales to franchisees on procured items via the group's outsourced and improved interest rates.
Shareholders are also reminded, though, that in the prior year, the net finance income of ZAR 700,000 includes a ZAR 8 million interest charge relating to the SARS share scheme matter previously disclosed, which should be added back for comparability purposes. Profit before tax is thus 52% higher than the prior year at ZAR 318 million. The effective tax rate is 31.5%, which equates to the South African tax rate of 27% and the impact of withholding tax incurred on turnover earned on the rest of Africa operations. Note also that the prior year charge includes a ZAR 13 million on the SARS share scheme matter. Excluding this again, for comparability purpose, the tax rate would have been 31% in the prior year. Profit is thus reported at June 2023.
Thus, this ultimately translates into earnings per share, reported at ZAR 2.60 per share for the year, an 80% increase over the previous year. The next slide of sales via the group's outsourced distribution partner, as mentioned earlier, ZAR 2 billion of the ZAR 3 billion sales for the year. Pleasingly, the margins in nearly all brands are higher than the prior year, with only RocoMamas coming in slightly lower at 69.9%, but that will be explained shortly. On the next slide, we disclosed the franchise operations turnover, revenue and profit, as well as Spur as the major brands.
Trading with 304 stores in South Africa at year-end and representing 71% of the group's franchise revenue, the Spur brand, the group's mother brand, delivered a sterling performance, generating ZAR 125 million profit in the second half off ZAR 144 million revenue and a super 87% margin for the year. We are most grateful for the customers, young and old, that continue to come experience the hospitality of Spur, and very proud of the exceptional teams, employees and franchisees that generated this result. If we look at our other brands within the group, our other brands represent nearly 30% of our franchise revenue. The metrics in orange is RocoMamas. As mentioned in the previous slides, RocoMamas reports a 69.9% margin, lower than the previous year of 72%.
That said, this year the brand contributed ZAR 1 million to the marketing fund to amplify activities. Excluding this contribution, the underlying operating performance results in the exact same margin as the prior year, at 72%. The metrics in green, Panarottis. Panarottis saw improved revenue and profit in the second half of the financial year over that of the prior period, with margins also nearly at 70%. The metrics in blue, John Dory's. Although John Dory's revenue for the year is nearly 10% up year-over-year, the second half of this year is slightly lower than the two sixth months reported before it, and margins are at 58%. The metrics in red, Specialty Brands. Steadily improved performance in revenue and profit over each of the last four six-month reporting periods, with the current year generating a margin of 88%, the highest of the brands.
Well done, team. Our company stores, we call them retail company stores, a pleasing performance by the retail company stores, with margins at 5.6% versus a loss of the prior year. Various strategies are being implemented to enhance the operating margin even further in the coming year. We felt it fit to include this photo of our staff in our central manufacturing kitchen in the lead to the slide on manufacturing distribution segment. These staff members and others were impacted by the recent taxi strike and were unable to reach the operations, with the impact resulting in lost production days and, of course, fear for their safety. The team willingly worked on the weekend to catch on delayed production. Thank you, team. Our manufacturing and distribution numbers.
The 23% increase in revenue is a direct correlation to the increase in sales for the year, with two of the revenue streams in this segment supplying directly to franchisees. That of the sources manufacturing kitchens and the procurement via our distributor. The margin for the second half of the year is 3.8% versus 4.1% in the first half. Apologies. The margin for the second half of the year is 3.5% versus 4.1% in the first half, translating into an overall margin of 3.8%, as can be seen on the slide. This is mainly due to a reduction in distribution margin by the group, which was passed on to the benefit of franchisees.
It is expected that the reduction in distribution margin will be accompanied by a higher participation rate in central procurement by franchisees going forward. The group also installed a cooling system, a tubular heat exchanger, in the year at its manufacturing plant. Product temperatures are now cooled to optimal packing temperature for the same day packing. If we look at our marketing funds, as you know, the group collects marketing fees from franchisees for the express purpose of utilizing this income on marketing activities for the benefit of franchisees. The group thus accounts for this income over a period of time, as opposed to a point in time. The accounting effect of the recognition of this income results in revenue of ZAR 319 million, this is evident on the slide, and a marginal profit of ZAR 2 million.
Importantly, the cumulative still to be used or unutilized proceeds are recorded as deferred income in contract liabilities on the balance sheet. The unspent proceeds collected from franchisees at year-end is nearly ZAR 54 million, up on the prior year of ZAR 51.5 million. Moving on to our other and support services slides. On the left, as is disclosed here, other represents support services, which are directly related to the franchise operations, which include training department, decor, export, and the call center. The profitability disclosed here at ZAR 2.7 million is generated by our decor department and export, with the opening of new stores and continued revamp of others. On the right-hand side, we have the shared services, so our support, the group's corporate services costs.
The operating loss is ZAR 129 billion, which is 2.5% less than the prior year. However, it must again be noted that the prior year number includes the lower interest income and the ZAR 8 million interest on the SARS matter, as discussed earlier. We look at the second last line, shared overheads. On a comparable basis, they're 11.5% higher than the prior year. Continuing with that analysis and unpacking it further, we look at the bottom line, comparable shared overheads. This is where we exclude the impact of non-recurring overheads, especially in the prior year, and that is reflected at 13.9% higher than the prior year. A breakdown of these overheads per cost center is available in the appendices to this presentation.
On our international segment, with the group now trading in, with 90 stores, continued positive traction was experienced in the international segments. Margins are in line with the prior year, at 25%. Our comparable profit analysis. Group profit, for tax, as mentioned, is 51.9% higher than the prior year. We list all the adjustments which are non-recurring between periods to allow for direct comparability of the profit number. The comparable profit is slightly lower, but still healthy, at a 46.7% increase. The balance sheet is largely unchanged. Our property, plant, and equipment, really, the movement in the period is CapEx of ZAR 5 million, along with depreciation of ZAR 9 million and a ZAR 2 million impairment of assets.
Our right-of-use assets, along with the short-term and long-term lease liability, relate to property rented by the group and accounted for in terms of IFRS 16. The change in intangible assets is purely amortization. Other noncurrent assets, purely temporary differences of deferred tax. Inventories, at ZAR 121 billion, includes ZAR 110 million of stock held by the outsourced distributor at year-end, higher than the ZAR 85 million of the prior year due to increased trade. Restricted cash refers to the marketing funds received, which is unspent, and unredeemed gift vouchers, which the group is not to use for its own account, and therefore, the group and cash equivalents movement is discussed in the cash flow statement.
The total of the long-term and short-term contract liability of ZAR 85 million consists of the ZAR 54 million of the deferred marketing income discussed earlier, as well as ZAR 31 million in deferred initial franchise fees in terms of license fees amortized over the period of the franchise lease agreement. Trade and other payables, at ZAR 248 million, includes ZAR 112 million due to the outsourced distributor at year-end, higher than the ZAR 86 million of the prior period. Again, due to increased trade and represents the credit liability against the debit inventory on the balance sheet. Now, the group has repeatedly provided disclosure on a contingent liability relating to a claim by GPS, served by summons to the group in December 2019.
As a court date for the hearing of this trial has been set for October 2023, which is in this next reporting period, an appendix with relevant information has been included to this presentation. Of relevance is, firstly, that a court date has been set, secondly, that in July 2023, GPS has revised their initial claim by decreasing the value of their first, the initial claim, from ZAR 183 million to between ZAR 120 million and ZAR 167 million rand. Then, they've also revised their alternative claim by increasing the value from ZAR 60 million-ZAR 96 million. In addition, the parties are discussing and have agreed to proceed to arbitration to be scheduled for the same time as the court hearing, albeit that an arbitration agreement has not yet been signed.
The group continues to provide full disclosure on this matter in its annual financial statements, and this remains a contingent liability and has not been provided for on the balance sheet. As announced on the 27th of July, the group is to acquire 60% of the Doppio Group. This subsequent event is disclosed in the annual financial statements and in an annexure to this presentation. The acquisition price equates to a P/E well below the group's P/E. The transaction processes to CP close. The group was targeting an early effective date, because of the timing of the necessary regulatory approvals, the closing date is not expected before mid-October. Moving to the cash flow statement.
The cash flow statement, the operating profit is really the profit for tax, adjusted only for a few items like depreciation of ZAR 18 million, finance income of ZAR 26 million, movements in accruals, and then equity share-based payments of ZAR 12 million. That is accompanied with a slight positive working capital position of ZAR 6.7 million. The balance of the cash flow statement, we've discussed the cash flow from operations and finance income. Tax of ZAR 97 million was paid, with ZAR 80 million of that relating purely to Spur Corporation, RocoMamas, and the company-owned stores. Dividends of ZAR 137 million were paid, relating to the final dividend of F 2022 of ZAR 0.78, and the interim dividend of F 2023 of ZAR 0.82. Investing activities are nominal, mainly CapEx of ZAR 5 million.
Financing activities mainly relates to the acquisition of the 1.5 million shares for ZAR 32 million. The shares were bought at an average of ZAR 21.33 per share. This has resulted in a net increase in cash of ZAR 100 million, and a closing balance of cash at ZAR 375 million. I thank you, and I hand over back to Val.
Thank you, Cristina. Okay, now to close off the presentation, we're gonna talk a little bit about the way forward. I'm just gonna share a couple of concept restaurant designs that are busy under development at the moment. The first one is a Buffalo Hills Spur in Zimbabwe. Also had the opportunity to be on the site. A beautiful development, and my congratulations to the international team and Simbisa Brands who are investing in this project. It's in the suburbia of Bulawayo, and it's an old house that is being converted into a Spur restaurant with a beautiful outdoor and indoor playground. Really awesome. The second one under development is our entry into petroleum sites in Tanzania, in Dar es Salaam.
A beautiful petroleum restaurant hub that will carry three of our brands, Spur, RocoMamas, and Panarottis Pizza. Then the third one, which is under consideration at the moment, is our foray into a petroleum forecourt in KZN. Also beautiful with our mother brand, Spur, so really awesome. So if we look forward, we know that we're committed to a sustainable future growth, and the primary focus area for the year will be about increasing our loyal customer base, attracting more of those young families into our restaurants. We know that has been the huge differentiator for the Spur brand, that opened their doors and welcomed young Black families into their restaurant. Our opportunity now is to get more consumers into our restaurant.
We're also looking to introduce smaller format outlets for Spur and Panarottis, and RocoMamas, to allow these brands to expand into smaller towns and shopping nodes, which are suited to deliver an improved return on investment for the franchisees with a smaller footprint. This will also attract an early adopter franchisee into our network. The group plans to open 41 new restaurants in South Africa and 12 internationally in this year. The Panarottis brand will aggressively be expanded, with 15 new stores planned for this year. I'd now like to just take through, take you through a brief overview of the future look, future outlook. We spoke about some of the transformation, deliverables that we're looking at.
If we look at what we're gonna do on a consumer side, our customer emotional selling proposition around getting more youth, building our loyalty, taking our customer experience to a new level, because it's all about that, and rewarding our consumers, and also building partnerships and strategic alliances with various non-food brands. On the innovation side, we will continue to grow our core categories, build on product and quality compliance through greater franchisee participation. ESG will remain a focus for us. We're looking to even create a new benchmark that requires us to support local enterprises in every region. Technology innovation will complement our aim to heighten our customer experience. In terms of our footprint expansion, we've spoken about a lot of it.
We spoke about the Spur Next Gen last time, optimizing delivery to make it more profitable, our new growth strategy, obviously, our new look Hussar Grill, which we spoke about, and of course, the need to look at the future franchise model to ensure it remains profitable and sustainable for the future. I wanted to end with my final comment to let you know that the reinvention of the Spur brand is imminent. A pilot site is currently being built in the Vaal Mall, which will open towards the end of August. This event will mark a key milestone in the 55-year life cycle of the brand. A clear strategy has been formulated to ensure that we retain the key attributes that consumers love about Spur, but set the scene for the future generation of families.
This evolution of the foundation brand is designed to simply elevate joy, and we look forward to connecting with you soon to share this exciting development with you, one that is designed to elevate joy. Despite the market challenges, we remain positive about the future and will continue to collaborate closely with all our stakeholders in responding to the changing environment with a reinvention ethos and a growth mindset. I thank you all for your time this morning, and now we will gladly open up for some questions. Thank you.
We have a number of questions on the webcast. First one is from Jovan Jackson at Laurium Capital. He says, "Good day, and well done on a good set of results." His first question: Could you give a sense of how trading has been post-year end?
Okay, thank you for the. We appreciate the accolade. Yeah, trading quite interesting. July continued on trend of how we ended the year. Unfortunately, in August, we had the bad incident of the Cape Town strike. I think until the day before yesterday, I was still seeing red on the turnover schedule, because of the Cape Town strike. It looks like we're clawing back. Things are sort of in line with the trend that we saw in the second half.
Then there's a second question from Jovan. May I ask what the rollout plans are for Doppio Zero, and how quickly you want to get there?
Okay, we were obviously waiting for the effective date. In negotiations with the partners of Doppio Zero, we looked at the opportunity, which is the clear opportunity that's re-presented, is that Doppio Zero predominantly operate in Gauteng. They've only got 4 restaurants outside of Gauteng. The opportunity is to expand the Doppio presence in other territories. There's an immediate opportunity in the other regions. I didn't tell you when, but I'll tell you soon. Thanks.
Well, and there's a related question from Alexander Duys at Umthombo Wealth, and he asks whether the expansion will be by franchise or company-owned stores.
Interestingly enough, the purchase or the acquisition involves 25 franchise stores and 12... sorry, 25 franchise stores, yes, and 12 company-owned stores. We're gonna look at how it evolves. We're hoping that perhaps some of the company-owned stores, our franchisees might be interested in purchasing, or other investors might like to franchise those. We will evolve it. We currently have five of our own company-owned restaurants, so it will be a good thing to consolidate, but our core competency remains franchising. I'd say that will still remain our focus.
Then there's a question from Chris Logan from Opportune Investments, he says, "Congrats on the very good performance and general enthusiasm. You mentioned the brutal truths facing the business. Please, could you elaborate?
Thanks, Chris. Those were the brutal truths of fiscal 2021, and there were many, because we had obviously just come out of COVID, we were still dealing with the changes of the consumer dynamic. You know, we were predominantly a lunch and dinner trade, suddenly consumers were not staying out late. It was those kind of brutal truths, some were internal, where we needed to focus the profitability of the business. Some of it was food cost control in the restaurants, ensuring that we were procuring correctly so that we could deliver a profitable outcome for the franchisees. Those were a few that we encountered early in 2021, I'm pleased to say that a lot of those are on a positive track now.
Thanks, Val. Now a question for Cristina Teixeira from Andrew Vintcent from Ninety One. He says: Operating cash flow grew by 14.4%, while the operating profits in the income statement grew by 40%. Could this difference be discussed or reconciled?
Thank you for that question. Yes, absolutely. I forget the actual notes on the financial statements now, but if you look at the operating profits, cash flow note, the main differential is the add back of the marketing surplus. You'll see in the prior, there was an add back of, I think, about ZAR 45 million-ZAR 46 million, and in the current period, only about ZAR 2 million. It really relates to the accounting and the utilization of those marketing surpluses. Could I be more eloquent? In the prior period, there was income that had not been utilized and moved into deferred income in the balance sheet. That adjustment was ZAR 46 million, in the current period was only ZAR 2 million, so it relates predominantly to marketing activities, not underlying franchise operations.
Thanks, Cristina. There's a question from another one from Alexander Duys at Umthombo Wealth. He says, "RocoMamas' like for like sales are under pressure. Are the price points becoming too expensive for its target market, and are there any initiatives underway to address these challenges?
Yes, there are, and there have been for a while. It's all about who the target audience is. If we look at our entry-level Smash, yes, we have ensured that it comes at a little bit of a premium because it is a more premium brand experience. It's a different product. It's a smash that's produced at the restaurant. It's pure beef. Yes, it does come at a premium, but we have ensured that we remain competitive for the target market that we're trying to reach. In terms of the like-over-like growth, RocoMamas really did, was challenged, coming out of COVID, because we suddenly saw a shift from fast casual dining, where consumers were visiting our RocoMamas restaurants, now chose to stay at home and order. Obviously, the reliance of the third-party aggregators haven't helped.
That has been the, the challenge that we've been faced with, but I believe now that we're on track with new marketing activity and a well-positioned menu mix, to continue and change that like-on-like growth.
Thanks, Val. There was a similar question from Umar- Farooq Kaji at Allan Gray, but I think that's been well covered in your last response. There's a question from Corvis Solias at All Weather Capital. Well done on a great set of results. Can we get a rough ballpark figure, maybe % of sales paid for the Doppio Group?
Yes. Thank you for the question. So in the first instance, I think as we disclosed to shareholders, we said that this transaction is below a Category 2 transaction, JSE Cat 2. By implication, using the year-end share price, and our shares an issue, that cap would be ZAR 93 million. It's clear that the figure would be less than ZAR 93 million. We have disclosed in our financial statements the purchase consideration, actually, so I think we are comfortable to disclose that the purchase consideration, which obviously will be adjusted at closing date for the effective movements on balance sheet, is circa ZAR 70 million. That is purchase consideration. Not enterprise value, not equity value. That would be the check. Yes.
Then a second question from Kobus. He says: Once the events in October are concluded, will the board relook at the capital allocation priorities?
That is also a very good question. Yes. We, as a board, consider our capital allocation, obviously, on an ongoing basis, and as recently as this week when we met. We have looked at our top-month forecast going forward, and we have allocated our capital understanding what we have as free cash. Suffice to say that this next reporting period, this next 6 months, is an important one for us in terms of closing out a number of matters. We would hope to be in a position to be able to communicate more clearly in terms of that capital allocation activities by our next reporting cycle.
Then there's a question from Charles Bowles from Titanium Capital. He says, "John Dory's seems to be struggling. Is this a reflection of the seafood market generally, and its higher price points, or are there brand-specific issues?
John Dory's is a great brand that offers a quality product. There is a huge future of seafood in this country, of seafood consumption, because seafood is a category that consumers don't often eat or prepare themselves. They might eat tinned fish, but seafood is one that they would like to enjoy outside of their home. John Dory's main challenge has been to acquire strategic sites. I think we're on the right path now. We've fixed the operational, we've fixed the leadership, and we are now delivering an improved operating margin and an improved profit. I believe with the next 4 strategic sites that are underway, we're gonna see big changes for this brand.
We've also repositioned it, and with Rui's leadership, we are marketing it in a different way to change that perception of the old John Dory's and position it as the quality seafood restaurant that it actually is. Thank you.
Thanks, Val and Christina. There are any further questions on the website.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, all. Are we all finished?