Good morning to all our viewers this morning, both in person and online, local and international. A warm welcome to all our franchise partners, investors, and shareholders for their attendance this morning. I would like to acknowledge our Board Chairman, Mike Bosman, our Board of Directors, our Spur Corp Executives and who are present this morning. Up front, I would like to express my thanks to each member of the Spur Corp team nationally who pulled together during this past challenging year. Your resilience, dedication, and passion has been remarkable. Thank you, guys. I also pause for a moment to express condolences to families and friends who have lost their loved ones in the past months.
We, too, in the restaurant industry, reflect on the loss of a business associate killed tragically recently, and in the past three days, the loss of a valued individual from one of our beverage suppliers. May they rest in peace. Let us continue. Last year, at the 51st World Economic Forum, was marked with one important area of focus, what was called the Great Reset. For us at Spur Corporation, this reporting period marks the dawn of a new era, a great reset of its own kind. The first half of our financial year, 2022, required our Spur Corp team, our franchise partners, and our suppliers to adapt to the changing market needs. The world has changed, the country is changing, and Spur Corp, too, is moving into a new era, a new phase, a new future. We embrace those who are on the journey with us.
This morning, it gives me great pleasure to open up the presentation of our fiscal 2022 half one results for the six-month period of July to December 2021. Cristina, our CFO, who has been with us for just over a year, will present the financial and segmental review following this market overview. Welcome, Cristina. The business focus outlined over a year ago has gained traction, and together with improved COVID-19 regulations, we are pleased to announce a growth of restaurant sales by 28.3% over the same period. Group revenue increase of 40.3%. Comparable profit before income tax increased by 96%, and pleasingly, headline earnings per share increased by 119%. For this reporting period, the board has approved and declared a dividend of ZAR 0.49 per share to shareholders.
While some uncertainty still exists on the continued effects of COVID-19 pandemic, these results are evidence of a recovery in the trading performance and signs of our healthy brands that have sustained themselves through these market challenges. I'm most grateful for these pleasing results and would like to acknowledge all who contributed to this remarkable improvement, our valued customers and our committed franchise partners and their respective restaurant teams across all our brands, all who continue to communicate, collaborate, and consult with us on a journey that is now in full swing. We continue to trade in 16 countries with seven fast and casual dining brands and six virtual kitchens, known to us as VK brands. South Africa remains our dominant region. Our foundation brand, Spur Steak Ranches, represents just over 50% of our global restaurant footprint.
RocoMamas, with its aggressive expansion plan, has matched the restaurant number of Panarottis and is now ranked second in turnover contribution after Spur. We have opened 60 new restaurants in South Africa and four internationally. Restaurants that were already marginal and could not sustain the impact of the COVID trading conditions unfortunately closed, and we continue to de-risk our presence in poorly performing international markets. Revamps and relocations were limited in this past period, but we are already gaining traction as turnover increases and franchisee cash flows are allowing for paused revamp cycles to recommence. Trading conditions were in some months impacted by the varying levels of the COVID pandemic restaurant trading restrictions, which were exacerbated by the civil unrest in KZN in the second week of July. However, a strong trading performance was seen in the Q4 of the calendar year.
The growth in South Africa was driven by the high volume of sales of the Spur brand, who increased restaurant sales by 32.8%. Panarottis, John Dory's, and RocoMamas increased sales by a third, and the specialty portfolio grew by an impressive 41.8% over the same period last year. International franchise restaurants were down by 1.8%, with the primary negative impact from declining performance in Australia and Mauritius. Mauritius, where we trade with 14 restaurants, is usually a healthy region for us. However, the country has experienced lengthy and severe lockdowns, and direct impact by travel bans resulted in a negative 9% of turnover for the six-month period. Overall, the group restaurant sales grew by 28.3% during this comparable period.
Like-for-like performance across brands is most pleasing and confirms an improved trend overall. Before we present the financial and segmental review, please allow me a few minutes to outline our reflections on the past period and demonstrate how the change in market conditions have impacted our business. Changing consumer needs are driving the way in which we respond, as we reset and adjust our business to leverage these new opportunities. COVID has certainly changed the consumer dynamic. The Deloitte Global State of the Consumer Tracker indicates that we may be expecting a reversal of a multi-decade long trend. Post-pandemic activities, when benchmarked against pre-pandemic behavior, indicates an implied expansion of cook at home, buy fresh, and order food for takeaway. This trend is influenced by three main reasons. The first reason is lifestyle.
Changes to lifestyle structures have led consumers to work 20% more from home and less time traveling. With the aim to achieve work/life harmony, we, too, at Spur Corp have adopted a new hybrid model, Work Life 3.2. The second reason why consumers have changed their behavior is income. Economically, consumers are concerned about paying their bills, and their disposable income is under pressure. In this month, 6% of household income was spent on restaurant and takeaway by South African consumers. The economic outlook, however, projects a growth of real disposable income by 2.6% alongside the projected growth of GDP. The final reason is preference. Consumers have learned to cook and enjoy it. Some are avoiding large crowds by staying at home, and many still are concerned about contracting the virus.
The changing lifestyles of the consumer is evident in restaurant foot count, which indicates a reduction in our foot count of almost 50% in the month of July due to the KZN unrest, where nine restaurants were looted. Following changes in lockdown levels and easing of trade and restrictions, customer counts improved from August to December. December also noted increased foot counts in our major mall sites, certainly an improved shift from the onset of the pandemic. The peak festive season produced remarkable results for the network, but the usual high traffic areas were negatively impacted, mainly due to the travel ban and reduced tourist traffic in airport sites, resorts, and to a lesser extent, casinos.
In addition, a sales decline of 25% for the month of December was also experienced in Mauritius, which as a popular holiday destination, was dramatically impacted by COVID restrictions, travel restrictions. Despite the pause in trade, we continue to revamp resort sites as we move into a more buoyant trading period and prepare for the next holiday season. We have two Spur restaurants at Sun City, and this newly revamped Spur is located at the vacation club. Consumers continue to crave convenience. A rise in demand for further finished meal solutions, new alternatives will continue. Some third-party aggregators are reporting a 140% increase in usage since the onset of the pandemic. In our group, takeaway sales now represent 20% of the group's turnover, with click and collect as the most favored option at over 50% of takeout.
Mr D , who holds the largest delivery footprint, represents almost one-third of our delivery fulfillment. The Spur drive-through, which we told you about last time, continues to trade beyond expectations, and two RocoMamas drive-throughs are currently being built following some delays experienced with council approvals. This convenient and lucrative channel to meet customer needs by making their favorite meals more accessible remains a key growth channel for us. Technology and automation is a key enabler, and the pandemic has accelerated digital adoption in food orders, payment methods, and online reviews. Our VK brands continue to gain interest and will remain part of the growth strategy across all main brands. The group now has five virtual kitchen brands. The top three include Pizza Pug, a winning favorite, followed by Reel Sushi and Bento.
We anticipate that consumers will continue to seek value-driven, bespoke takeaway options that have a trendy and appetizing appeal. Household expenses are on the rise. An increase in petrol, power, and key food costs are placing pressure on disposable income. Customers have become cautious and frugal with their discretionary spend and are seeking value-added products. Thus, they are gravitating towards trusted brands like ours and known value items. Our franchise partners, too, have also had to adjust staff levels, review and revise menus, and scrutinize operational controls to help offset the increases in operating cost. The group supply chain strategy continues as we endeavor to increase volumes in strategic categories to improve franchisee profitability while offering customers a quality product at the best price.
Our response: loyalty rewards such as double points are gaining traction, and our brands have ensured that everyday value, regular promotional activity, and value-added campaigns provide some opportunity for families to dine with ease. The group's active loyal customer base is well over 150 million customers and continues to grow monthly as consumers seek some reward from their favorite restaurants. Impacted by the pandemic, consumers are choosing comfort foods that offer the feeling of nostalgia. Food choices like breakfast on the rise, as eggs prompt memories of home and offer familiar, affordable option. Breakfast in our network is growing and represents between 17%-20% of day part sales of our casual dining brands, followed by lunch as the second largest day part segment.
Pasta and pizza also rank as comfort foods, and this is evident in the growth of Panarottis's takeaway sales, which now represents 40% of their mix. The continued popularity of the Spur birthday experience and birthday song is a testament to the safe and comfortable place Spur is for children to play and celebrate at. Over 400,000 children in South Africa have participated in a birthday party at our restaurant these past six months. Last Saturday, in fact, I visited one new revamped store in Klerksdorp and one large one in a larger neighborhood. I must say, sitting there, it was pleasing to see our restaurants full of families, children jumping for joy, and the birthday experience that has become synonymous with our firm positioning as the family casual dining destination.
Our stringent COVID protocols continue in all restaurants, with special children-focused safety measures like our secure play canyons, supervised by dedicated play canyon attendees. In many Spur restaurants, the Sensormatic kid safety tags are sought after by parents. However, although many privileged children are able to eat at our restaurants, we are aware of the impact that COVID has had on schoolgoing children. In May last year, the CRAM study, conducted by Stellenbosch University, confirmed that an additional 500,000 children dropped out of school during the pandemic. This fiscal, Spur Corporation has contributed to bursaries for underprivileged children, as well as a bursary program for Spur Corp employees' children. The Full Tummy Fund continues to be supported by a contribution from all kids' meals sold and supports early development centers. The combined value contributed towards children last year was ZAR 1.5 million.
More consumers are becoming aware of the climate change and the state of the environment. Highly empowered customers are seeking brands that are participating in initiatives that reduce environmental impact. Our supply chain initiatives include eliminating single-use plastic and avoidable packaging. Environmental awareness will drive responsible procurement, which includes sustainable seafood sourcing and various other initiatives. Energy, water, and waste is monitored with the aim to reduce usage. We applaud our franchise partners, winners of the Green Feather Award, RocoMamas The Grove, and Pasadena Spur in Paarl, for their active contribution in environmental activities in their restaurants. Our commitment to deliberate transformation in our business continues. The focus will remain around three major streams, societal awareness, transformation, environmental awareness, and improvement to an employee experience that is embedded in justice, equality, diversity, and inclusivity. Health options continue to gain momentum. Vegan and vegetarian and plant-based preferences will increase.
ModRockers, our new baby, based in Rosebank, Gauteng, is targeting an audience defined as flexitarians, who are seeking value meals with a greater purpose and have eagerly embraced this new brand. Plant-based offerings and other vegan alternatives will continue to feature in restaurant menus across all our brands. Albeit a niche category, we are expecting growth as more customers make these personal choices of wellness and environmental awareness. The change in consumer behavior and the new trading patterns will certainly influence our journey as we embark on the next stage. More about this after the financial and segmental review. Cristina, over to you. Thank you.
Thank you, Val. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today we'll begin with the income statement. As Val indicated, sales from restaurant sales increased by 28.3% over the comparable reporting period, increasing from ZAR 2.9 billion-ZAR 3.7 billion. With restaurant sales being the most material driver to group revenue, combined with a decreasing requirement of concessions to franchise fees, as well as increased sales from our company-owned stores and an increased sales level from our manufacturing and distribution business, group revenue increased by 40.3% from ZAR 314 million-ZAR 414 million. That resulted in a pleasing increase in profit before tax of ZAR 103 million, which represents an increase of 139%.
It's important to note that comparable profit before tax increased to ZAR 98 million, which represents a 96% increase. In addition, it's important to note as well, looking at the net finance expense line, which reflects an outflow, that does include a ZAR 8 million charge to interest as a result of a write-off of an interest portion on a tax asset that was recorded as an asset and recoverable from the South African Revenue Service. As announced in October 2021, following a judgment delivered by the Supreme Court of Appeal, the group has impaired that receivable. Excluding that interest charge of ZAR 8 million, net finance income would have increased, which is reflective of the increased cash holdings on hand. Similarly, the tax charge includes a figure of ZAR 13 million, which represents the capital portion of the same matter.
That resulted in an effective tax rate of 40%. Excluding the impact of the ZAR 13 million adjustment to the write-off of tax assets, the effective tax rate would have been 24.9%. Thus, the group is pleased to be able to disclose an earnings per share of ZAR 0.70, which represents a 119% increase over the comparable reporting period, and a comparable earnings per share increase of 109%. We'll unpack now each of the segments and the income statement into each of its segments and underlying performance. Starting with the segmental South African overview and looking at the first numeric column on the left. The business is quite simply described as follows: Spur brand, which is the foundation of our franchise operations, represents 25% of group revenue.
It also represents 70% of all franchise operations revenue. Followed by the manufacturing and distribution segment, which is directly correlated to that of franchise operations, and again, another quarter of group revenue. The marketing revenue, which represents the funds collected from franchisees in terms of their marketing spend, which is consolidated into our accounts for accounting purposes, is the Q3 , and the remaining quarter of group revenue is made up of various businesses, but more notably, 6% from the company-owned stores and 4% from our growing brand, RocoMamas. Looking at the second and third numeric column from the left-hand side, we are conscious that this reporting period's comparable numbers includes a period which it was impacted by various lockdown restrictions and prohibitions.
For that reason, although we reflect our results against that comparable period, we also disclose our results relative to the six months ended 31 December 2019, which represents the most recent six months period that we have on hand, which was not impacted by COVID. As Val mentioned, our restaurant sales against that period are 9.5% down, and I disclose to you that our group revenue would then be down by 16.2% in South Africa. We'll unpack these as we go along through the segmental reviews. If we move on to franchise operations, the two graphs reflect to you revenue and profit. It shows you total franchise revenue, and it also shows you the total Spur relative to the franchise revenue. As you can see, the foundation brand is the material portion of our trade. We show you five six-month reporting periods.
We start from the left with the six months ended 31 December 2019. As we already described, that is our six months pre the commencement of COVID. We show you all the six months periods in between that period and now, and end on the right-hand side with our current reported numbers. We provide you this disclosure to enable the stakeholders to be able to track the level of recovery in nominal terms against the recovery against a COVID period. As you can see, Spur brand, the material portion of franchise revenue, it indicates that we are ZAR 20 million behind in nominal terms, 31 December 2019's revenue and profit. That in itself translates to ZAR 400 million worth of restaurant sales. We believe a good performance from the team.
During the period, we opened three stores and closed three stores, so a net zero movement for Spur. We also consolidated the operations under one COO who looks after the entire brand portfolio, with respect to Spur, and that has allowed for efficiencies and standardization. We have also managed to control costs efficiently. That results in the Spur brand being able to deliver a margin of 82.7%. It is also pleasingly a brand that requires low levels of support from a concessions perspective. A really strong and healthy foundation brand as we see it, delivering 82% margin. This next slide reflects the rest of our franchise operations. As you can see, in terms of looking at the sort of Goldie bars, which is RocoMamas, during the period, we opened a net four RocoMamas.
You can see that its revenue and profitability is tracking in line or ahead of the 31st of December, 2019's performance. You can see a good recovery in terms of that brand. In addition, during the period, we also introduced a new COO to the business, and costs are controlled while a healthy margin being reported of 71%. The next two are Panarottis and John Dory's. For Panarottis, we opened up two stores, but closed four. With John Dory's, no stores were opened or closed. Those two businesses, although we can see the recovery, we can see them not being able to recover as quickly against the prior reporting periods, and their margins are slightly lower at 54.8% and 31.8% respectively.
For our specialty brand, during the period, we consolidated the Hussar Grill, Casa Bella and Nikos under one COO in order to bring in efficiencies and allow for the expertise on specialized brand management. That has had some improved benefit. You can see the margin tracking pleasingly now at 58.4%. During the period, we opened up two new Hussar Grills and two new Nikos. Moving on to our retail company-owned stores. As you know, that reflects five company-owned stores, four Hussar Grills and one RocoMamas. As Val mentioned, we also have a new brand called MODROCKERS, which is a company-owned store, but in its pilot phase. You are able to see the recovery both in revenue and profitability.
The stores are obviously impacted by international trade and local trade in terms of tourism, and we've seen pleasing recoveries. In the period, you'll see a loss, however, of ZAR 1 million. That does include a non-recurring ZAR 500,000, which relates to penalties on late payment regarding the receipt of our business insurance claims. So stripping that out, we'd be near breakeven or ZAR 500,000 loss. You'll remember that the second half of last year was unusually positively impacted through the receipt of ZAR 14 million in business interruption claims from our insurance. If we move on to the manufacturing and distribution segment.
This segment is constituted, as you're aware, of the income received from our production activities and efforts, as well as the sales from retail products of our sauces into our retail environment, like the supermarket chains. In addition, the sales from our central kitchen, our manufacturing plant, which produces sauces that are distributed into our franchise stores for use in store, complete the offering of services within manufacturing and distribution. We can see a recovery on revenue and our profitability, largely aligned to the improving trade within franchise and our restaurant sales. Pleasingly, during the period, we were able to introduce a new product within our central kitchens. The introduction of a Spur Tomato Sauce, which has now been rolled out.
In December 2021, rolled out into our stores, replaces an external product, and we're pleased to be able to better utilize the capacity and the facilities within our central kitchens. Marketing funds just sort of complete the smaller but still more relevant numbers within our South African reporting of segments. Marketing funds, we see an increased collection in terms of revenue, as a result directly of increased restaurant sales and therefore the contribution to marketing in terms of marketing fees. There's a material underspend of ZAR 26 million for the period, which is accounted for in the group's results for accounting purposes, but is not for the group's distribution. It will be utilized for the franchisees benefits in terms of their marketing funds, and so we would expect that spend to reverse into the second half of the financial year. Smaller portions, other.
In our segmental report, you're reminded that it includes indirect services provided to franchisees, so it's the selling of decor, it's training that's done, it's export orders and the like. I'll just point out the bottom left-hand number, ZAR 3.6 million loss. In essence, it reflects an underrecovery and is mainly attributable to our trading department being an underrecovery on cost because it is a cost center, and efficiencies are being looked at in order to be able to extract some value within that trading space. On the right-hand side, it's our corporate shared services department. We indicate to you what is constituted within the loss that we show in our segmental statement of ZAR 76.6 million.
In essence, you'll see the most material line items are a ZAR 7 million inflow, which is our recovery, Spur's recovery from the marketing fund for administrating the marketing fund. Eight million loss, I've covered a bit earlier. It's the interest on our SARS dispute, which we've written off. Net interest. There you can see the increase year-on-year that I described, excluding the ZAR 8 million loss. Our shared overheads are then at ZAR 80 million versus ZAR 67 million in the period. I'll unpack that a bit further now. If we look at the ZAR 80 million, included in the ZAR 80 million in corporate costs are various other line items, such that we bring you down to the bottom, which is the comparable shared overheads, which I'll comment on.
Included in shared overheads, the three more relevant line items or maybe two relevant line items that I'll speak to is you'll see an impairment or a write-off of ZAR 3.7 million relating to the Nikos contingent consideration fair value adjustment. What that means is, as a result of COVID and the unfortunate passing of our founder, Allen Ambor, the group has agreed to extend the purchase price determination period from the 31st of July 2021 to the 31st of July 2022. The fair value impact of that was a charge to earnings of ZAR 3.7 million. ZAR 5.1 million relates to IFRS 9, which is really the assessment of our expected credit loss. The probabilities of defaults and default rates have not changed.
However, we have increased the probability allocated to our SARS debtors that remain to be collected and have processed an increased ECL of ZAR 5 million. The comparable shared overheads then are ZAR 17 million relative to ZAR 57 million in the prior period. It does reflect an increase. I think what is notable to note is that in the prior year, it was a COVID period. There was very little training. Our staff had taken a cut in salaries. There was 50% ex gratia bonus payments. Whereas in the current period, there it's more of a return to normal. There's increased travel costs. There's obviously provisioning made for any bonuses that could be paid to our employees and the like. Therefore, the current year reflects more of a normalized ongoing basis of trade.
In the appendix, which we won't cover today, but is available on the website for your reference, we provide further breakdown of that ZAR 70 million and the ZAR 57 million comparable shared overheads by departments, so that you have an understanding of what makes up that cost. Moving on to International. You'll see an improved performance on International for which we're most pleased. Val did cover some of the points earlier, but just to provide some context, we did open four stores in International in the period and closed seven. With respect to the four opened, they were in key markets, Zambia, where we already operate 21 stores. They were in Namibia, where we already operate 11 stores, and in India.
The area, as Val mentioned earlier, of Mauritius, was a little bit more hard hit with lockdowns, and that is relevant to us because that's probably our second-largest trading environment, where we operate 14 stores. Losses in Australia have been managed, decreased, with only two stores trading in Australia and one in New Zealand. Here are some pictures of recent stores that have been opened. This store in Lusaka, Zambia, was actually opened on the thirty-first of January, so just after the reporting period. It is a Panarottis Express. We're very delighted to see another store coming online in Zambia. This next picture is again in Zambia, a RocoMamas, and this was opened up very early in the calendar year on the ninth of January.
Again, very exciting for us to see the growth and rollout strategies of RocoMamas coming into play. Comparable profit analysis, which we feel is an important schedule to indicate. As you've seen on our income statement, our profit before income tax is ZAR 103 million. It is important for us to strip out our marketing funds. As we've described, it is not for the company's utilization, and it's consolidated for accounting purposes only. If I look through the adjustments we make, which are the once off non-recurring, in order to translate to a more comparable profit, we've spoken IFRS 9, we've spoken the interest on tax dispute. I think there's nothing I really need to bring to your attention that we haven't already covered.
It translates to the comparable profit that I mentioned right up in the beginning of my presentation of ZAR 98 million, which represents a 96% increase. Our balance sheet. We reflect December 2020 against 2021. If we had included June 2021, you will note that the balances remain largely unchanged period-on-period. I'll go through quite quickly the line items. Property, plant, and equipment. In essence, our company-owned property, where our corporate offices are, as well as our manufacturing plant, where we operate central kitchens from. No material changes. Our right of use assets is the IFRS accounting of the properties that we rent, mainly in Woodmead, as well as our company-owned stores where we rent premises, and the requirement from an IFRS perspective to bring both the assets and then the lease liability onto the balance sheet.
I won't comment on lease liabilities a bit later because it's the credit side of that debit right of use. Intangible assets and goodwill, material value on our balance sheet. It shows the value of our brands, the value of the trademarks, and the businesses that we have. No change from year-end. Other non-current assets includes mainly the deferred tax asset that we have raised on the balance sheet, and it's important to note that those are temporary differences and do not reflect assessed losses waiting to be used. Inventories have gone up, and the reason for that is our export team have been producing product in order to export out to the rest of Africa for the opening of the stores that I've just mentioned.
Tax receivable refers to the withholding tax assets that we have available and booked on our balance sheet to utilize in our international structure in the coming year. Trade and other receivables have increased, and that is a result of an improved trading condition relative to December 2020, and reflects normalized debtors. Our restricted cash refers to vouchers not yet redeemed, as well as our marketing cash on hand. As we've described, it is not for the company's utilization, and therefore we have cash and cash equivalents of ZAR 259 million. Other notable items, contract liabilities refers to the IFRS 15 amortization of advance money received in advance regarding license fees. Other non-current liabilities refers to deferred tax assets on our balance sheet.
We have very little other line items other than our tax payable, which reflects our normal liabilities on Spur Group. Our cash flows will be easily understood now that I've spoken about the movements on the balance sheet. Operating profit of ZAR 112 refers to, in essence, the ZAR 103 profit before tax, with adjustments for depreciation of ZAR 10 million, adjustments for the ECL, adjustments for the contingent consideration, and the backing out of the marketing profit. That results in operating profit of ZAR 122. Working capital changes of ZAR 18 outflow. We've given you the breakdown. You can see that the most material element is the increase in trade and other receivables, which is a volume increase, so very normal, and inventories, as I described, through export items that we've procured and now sold.
The cash flow statement then says, other than the items I've covered so far, tax paid of ZAR 33 million refers to payments made for Spur Group, RocoMamas, group properties, all of our sort of very active trading entities. The dividends paid you're familiar with. It's the accrued dividend that we paid in this period, which was due to shareholders. Cash flow from investing activities is a small amount of CapEx that took place. Financing activities is repayment of lease liabilities, and that then generated a cash flow of unrestricted cash of ZAR 259 million for the period. I'll now hand over back to Val for the way forward.
Thank you, Cristina. To close, I'd like to share with you a top-line view of our future focus, all in support of our business model, which is familiar to you from the last time. If we have a look at the core of the business model sits the need to build and continue building strong brands that lead the experience. Our teams and leadership have embraced the model, and behind this model sits the entire plan, which is unfolding, and momentum is certainly being gained. In terms of our next period, in terms of future outlook, Spur will continue to drive brand dominance and leverage its current leadership position as the family casual dining experience. RocoMamas aggressively will continue to grow to bring the best smash burgers to more people globally.
Panarottis will be consumer-led innovation for the best pizza experience of eating pizza outside of a box. John Dory's sustainable seafood enhancements will continue in order to create family seafood feasts. Our specialty restaurants, which have now been re-strategized with new leadership, we're expecting a quantum growth with that expertise in new regions. Our innovation on and leading on core categories will continue. Our supply chain value creation, which has commenced this year, will continue and be instrumental in helping our franchisees improve profitability. We will drive our R8 network development model globally, locally, and internationally, to ensure that our restaurants remain attractive, have high operating standards so that they can make it a great customer experience for our consumers.
We will leverage all our strategic alliance partners to venture into new opportunities and new innovations. We will continue our intention on deliberate transformation, a key and commitment to make a change in South Africa. I just want to mention some awards because I know the operation leaders are gonna tell me, "Did you mention the awards?" Really awesome accolade. RocoMamas just a superior brand just taking market share on the burger category. Won Best of Joburg for not only the best takeaway burger, but also the best seated burger and the best shakes. In addition to that, our other brands also got some accolades. Best of Joburg last year, Spur winner of Best of Ribs.
Spur also won Best of Pretoria for the winner in the dine-in out category. GenNext, which we know the coolest brands, which are voted by the youth, Spur was in the top five of the takeaway brands. Interesting placement there. RocoMamas was actually second for restaurant brands, and Spur was also in the top five. There were various others. Die Burger also gave us an accolade in terms of being one of the best sit-down restaurants, followed by Hussar Grill, which is awesome. The rest you can read for yourself. Just an accolade to our teams and I applaud you guys. Awesome results and I know there's gonna be more to come. What I'd like to do is just take you through a few visuals of our recent restaurants.
At this point, I think it is important for me to acknowledge and thank our franchise partners for their continued investment in our brands. Without our franchisees, we don't have a business. We value your commitment to our business and our brands. I also extend my appreciation to our new business and development teams for how they just simply make things happen. This is the first one in Pretoria, Denver Spur. Valley Falls Spur in the Irene Mall. Beautiful store. Has been well-received by consumers in that area. This is Nikos Suncoast in KZN. Beautiful appeal, really doing well at this stage, which is amazing. Panarottis Morning Glen, a center that's been redeveloped, we're hoping it'll gain traction, but a lovely site there.
Hussar Grill, who's our specialty, sort of jewel in the crown. This is our new one in Blueberry Square in Honeydew. Beautiful environment, great quality food, great service. The little touches that Hussar Grill bring to the market are phenomenal, and we know that this brand is gonna fly. This is one of our newest ones as well, the Hussar Grill at Century City. A great site, great position. Very convenient for local office people, neighborhoods to come in and park and enjoy a great meal. RocoMamas, just magnificently designed restaurants, beautifully put together with a great impact from consumers. This is RocoMamas Cornubia in KZN in Dainfern. This in fact is one of our Black franchise partners who now own three RocoMamas.
They're actually two young ladies, which is amazing to see the commitment to this brand. RocoMamas Paarl is actually a heritage site, also a beautiful store, beautifully decorated, but still preserving the importance of the heritage site. RocoMamas Pavilion represents our 11th halal restaurant. We do have just around 30 halal restaurants. It's also an area of growth for us, so we have a commitment to that special dietary requirement. RocoMamas Eastgate, another major mall site for RocoMamas, also beautifully presented. We all know Vaal Mall, a popular destination for our consumers with great loyalty. At that point, I'd like to try and bring the session to a close.
Just to say that it is crystal clear that as Spur Corp evolves and continues to build powerful brands that lead the experience, our contribution to South Africa and beyond will continue to be evident through various streams that pave the way for the greater good. Our relevant, appealing restaurant brands will continue to attract consumers from every neighborhood who choose one or many of our brands to dine in and celebrate with their friends and family. By having new and improved restaurants, it will create new job opportunities for those who are needed to help run and serve in the restaurants. A wonderful ripple effect on all operational services, marketing and supply chain resources that need to support these restaurants effectively. The journey is clear.
A simple but impactful way to make a difference for our people, our communities, and our country is to follow the purpose of leading the way for the greater good. I thank you for your investment, I thank you for your time, and I thank you for being with us this morning. May the year unfold with full of blessings for all. Thank you. We're now going to move over to question and answers, and I'm gonna ask, Cristina just to join us, at the podium. Okay, Don. Yeah.
Val and Christina, there are three questions from Kobus Cilliers from Avior Capital Markets. He says, "Well done on a good result." His first question is, "With so much cash on hand, are there any plans to do further share buybacks?
Shall I answer that?
Yeah.
Thank you for the question. We can confirm that our board, as recently as the board meeting that just completed, we have considered various alternatives for application of capital, including a share buyback, which would be a consideration. We haven't announced any specific repurchase as yet, but we will consider those options relative to all other opportunities we have available to us.
Thanks. Second question from Kobus Cilliers: "Do you know what Grand Parade Investments is considering to do with their stake in Spur?
Through sort of general discussions with GPI, and I think it is common knowledge in the market that GPI does want to disinvest from their shares, and I expect that would be the position that they would want to disinvest the shares or maybe give shares out to their shareholders.
His final question is what type of inflation are you seeing in the supply chain?
For the supply chain, we've seen inflation in the region of about 5.9% in February, 6%. We estimate in around 5.7%. Obviously, some categories going to be commanding a higher increase, but I would say around about the 5.5% mark.
Thank you.
Thank you. Two questions from Zaid Paruk from AEON Investment Management. His first question is could you perhaps unpack why the Saudi division amount was irrecoverable, and what does this indicate on the future of this division?
Yes. Thank you for that question. The context is that there's about five stores also trading in Saudi and the Riyadh operations. Two of these stores closed down. In essence, what we have is within our export division, and we had exported product out to stores in Saudi, and we are seeing that there's been some difficulty in terms of the repayment plan and extended credit facilities that we had to provide to the franchisee. We haven't written off the balance. We haven't suggested that it is non-recoverable. However, our accounting does require us to apply more appropriate probability of recovery default rates, and hence the reason for raising an increased ECL.
Thanks. Second question from Zaid. Could you please unpack the purchase price inflation on the group and if the impact of a higher oil price will impact the group in any way?
Sorry, can I just check clarity of that? Purchase price of?
He said purchasing inflation on the group.
It's a general price impact, so more raw material.
Yeah, we just said that earlier.
Yes.
Sorry, just to respond similarly to before, we're looking at pricing at a food inflation of around the figures I mentioned earlier, which is gonna range anywhere between 5.5%. We haven't applied that yet to our menu metrics. We're currently doing that because we know there are some big increases coming mainly from oil, and also from red meat. We haven't estimated what that will mean because we can't pass all of that to the consumer, so we're gonna try and absorb as much as we can, but still ensure that we offer good entry level value for the consumer as well as more premium bespoke products, and hopefully, that balances out the menu mix. Thank you.
The second part of that question was the impact of a higher oil price impacting on the group.
Yes, we are aware of that, and last year, we already had the high increase in the region between 20%-22% increase. Obviously, we consume and we use a lot of oil at restaurant level, so it is a challenge for us. We managing it by looking at alternatives, but we're gonna have to absorb it and work our way around the menu mix to absorb that kind of large increase.
Thanks. There are no further questions on the webcast.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you all.