Good morning all, and thank you for joining us for the AmRest H 1 2025 Results Call. My name is Carly, and I'll be coordinating the call today. If you'd like to register a question during the call, you can do so by pressing star followed by one on your telephone keypad. To remove yourself from the line of questioning, press star followed by two. If you join us online, you can also submit a text question via the Q&A button on your browser now. I'd now like to hand over to our host, Lukasz Wachelko. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Lukasz Wachelko. I'm representing Wood & Company . I have the pleasure of moderating the call with AmRest after the results. The company is being represented by CFO Eduardo Zamarripa and IR Santiago Camarero Aguilera. Gentlemen, the mic is yours.
Thank you, Lukasz. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us in today's Second Quarter 2025 AmRest R esult Presentation. I will share with you an update on AmRest's situation at the end of the quarter. In this second quarter, global conditions were shaped by escalating trend tensions that led to episodes of significant financial volatility and a broad decline in consumer confidence across many countries. Regional performance reflected this uncertainty. Western Europe slowed to near stagnation. Central and Eastern Europe remained comparatively resilient, and China developed solid growth. Structural changes persisted beneath the surface. With this context, we'll now review our second quarter results, financial performance, and outlook before opening the floor for your questions. Please note that today's remarks may include forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainty. Let's start with today's presentation. Let's go to Slide 2, please.
As a reminder, AmRest is a leading multi-brand restaurant operator in Europe, with 2,103 restaurants across 22 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and China. Our portfolio combines iconic global franchise brands: KFC, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, and Burger King, with proprietary concepts such as La Tagliatella , Sushi Shop, Blue Frog, and Bacoa, positioning our businesses across quick service, coffee, fast casual, and casual dining. Every month, our restaurants welcome over 30 million guests, served by more than 45,000 AmRest colleagues, a scale that allows us to deliver consistent value and service across formats and geographies. If we move now to slide three, I'm going to try to summarize the most relevant financial KPIs and events for the first half of the year. First, in the first half of 2025, revenues were almost EUR 1,262 million.
This is a 2.5% increase year- over- year, or 3.9% when excluding the deconsolidation impact from the assets sold in Q1. This is the 51% stake in our subsidiary SEM that was performing procurement activities for the group. Year-to-date adjusted EBITDA was more than EUR 196 million, roughly flat versus last year, while EBIT reached EUR 47.5 million, improving the EBIT margin to 3.8% versus 1.9% in the first half of 2024. Leverage stood at 2.1 x, at the low end of our internal target range. In addition, we delivered 36 cross-openings and 123 renovations during the first half, supporting future growth and customer experience. Finally, we executed a strategic change to internalize our supply chain management following the first quarter transaction on SEM to simplify operations and capture efficiencies.
In the following slides, we will go in more deep and detail on these points, but let's start first with what we are doing in our different brands on Slide 4. The commercial position of our brands plays a crucial role in the value generation of AmRest. Let me start with the quick service and coffee brands in this slide four. At KFC, we continue to elevate our product experience, introducing exciting campaigns and seasonal innovations tailored to local tastes. The popular pizza twister made a comeback in many countries in Central Europe, driven by its strong past performance. In Poland, we launched as well our most prominent campaign, collaboration with Netflix's Squid Game, featuring Korean-inspired menu items paired with a 360-degree viral marketing strategy that captured widespread attention, driving both engagement and brand business. At Burger King, we believe morning should be bold, satisfying, and full of flavor.
That's why we are proud to serve a breakfast lineup that's anything but ordinary. From fluffy minute cakes to crispy breakfast toasts, and a range of hearty breakfast burgers made with beef, chicken, or plant-based patties, each item is crafted to start the day with tasty energy. At Starbucks, our seasonal beverage innovations continue to deliver strong results, delighting guests and driving incremental sales. Our spring lavender range, led by the standout iced lavender matcha latte or the summer tiramisu range, are a testament to the power of flavor-driven campaigns. Moreover, seasonal food items were thoughtfully paired with healthy old beverages, enhancing the overall guest journey and driving incremental value across markets. Now moving to the fast casual and dining brands on the slide five, please. At Pizza Hut, we continue to deliver memorable moments through innovative product launches.
In this quarter, we proudly introduced Wing Street, a new product category featuring oven-baked chicken nuggets and strips, positioned as both a Pizza Hut offering and a standalone sub-brand on aggregator platforms. Wing Street expands our reach and strengthens our presence in the chicken segment. At Blue Frog, we continue to strengthen emotional connection and elevate seasonal appeal through experiences of premium innovation. We embrace the summer season, we launch a vibrant drink campaign featuring yogurt smoothies, tropical coolers, and colored non-alcoholic blends. The Drink of the Moment campaign targeted younger audiences, enhancing refreshment and driving brand engagement. At La Tagliatella , our rebranding journey continues, transforming the guest experience and strengthening operational excellence. Since the launch of our rebranding initiative in 2024, we have successfully reopened 15 fully revamped restaurants with plans to extend renovations to franchise locations by year-end, ensuring a consistent and elevated brand presence.
Finally, at Sushi Shop, the second quarter was marked by the launch of a strategic brand collaboration with Rubik's Cube . The box design featuring Rubik's Cube was paired with a new creative receipt, making the collaborations both fun and playful. This initiative helped us to connect with a wide multigenerational audience, blending nostalgia with a fresh product experience. Let's now move to Slide 6. As discussed, revenues reached EUR 1,262 million, up 2.5% year- over- year, or 3.9% excluding disposals. In this regard, we see steady progress in 12 months trailing average sales per equity store, reflecting the portfolio channel mix, pricing routines, and renovations' impact. The combination of per-store productivity and selective growth supports these trends, enabling us to consistently enhance unit economics across our network. As a result, AmRest continues to deliver resilient performance at the store level.
Moving to slide seven, on the left-hand side, you can see dine-in sales evolution versus other channels. We have achieved a balanced omnichannel mix. This evolution allows us to better meet guests wherever they are, whether in-store, online, or on Go Well, optimizing operational efficiencies and enhancing overall profitability. On the right-hand side, you can see that the digital share of orders reached 62% during the first half of the year, combining proprietary kiosks, mobile app, web ordering, and third-party platforms. In summary, digital capabilities remain a structural pillar. This robust digital adoption is not only a testament to changing consumer preference but also to our ongoing investment, technology, and operational excellence. As a result, we accelerate peak hour service and minimize wait times, ensuring guests receive a seamless experience even during the busiest periods.
We are able to reduce variance in executions across our network, leveraging digital tools to standardize processes and maintain high service quality. We achieved ticket uplift, achieved through effective merchandising and loyalty programs, which drive higher average spend per visit and foster repeat business. Now moving to slide eight. As we have covered in previous calls, our underlying restaurant growth is complemented by strategic adjustments to non-performing businesses made since 2022, which has led to the end of certain commercial agreements or disposal of some businesses during this period. These decisive moves are aimed to sharpen our capital allocation and focus the portfolio on the most resilient and profitable formats, ensuring that our footprint is configured for sustainable long-term returns.
Today, AmRest operates directly or via franchisees a portfolio of 2,103 restaurants across 22 countries and eight brands, following the opening of 21 new restaurants and the closing of 14 during the quarter. With this, Santi, if you can cover the main financial highlights, please.
Of course. Many thanks, Eduardo. As always, it is my pleasure to have the opportunity to update you on our quarterly results presentation. Before we dive into the details, I would like to highlight a few key themes that will frame our discussion today. First, top-line growth. We continue to deliver resilient revenue performance, supported by our diversified brand portfolio and disciplined commercial execution focused on effective pricing and upselling, and by the continued growth in digital locations, as more customers choose our digital channels for convenience and value. Second, stable EBITDA. Our operating profitability remains robust, reflecting effective cost management and ongoing operational efficiencies. Next, improving operative results. We have achieved a notable improvement in EBIT, driven by lowering permit charges and a focus on quality of earnings. Finally, healthy leverage.
Our balance sheet remains strong, underpinned by solid cash generation and disciplined capital expenditure, which position us well for future growth opportunities. These pillars form the foundation of our financial strategy and demonstrate our commitment to sustainable value creation for our shareholders. Now, let's return to the presentation and take a closer look at the results of the quarter. If we can go to Slide 10, please. Here, you can find the main financial data for the half of the year, which I believe most has been already covered by Eduardo. Let me provide a quick recap for everyone. As previously mentioned, for the first half of the year, sales reached EUR 1,262 million, representing a 2.5% growth year on year. Our semester sales index stood at 101, indicating a stable performance across our comparable units. EBITDA for the period was almost EUR 190 million, which translates to a 15% margin.
Operating profit came in at EUR 47.5 million, with a margin of 3.8%. During the half, we opened 36 new units and invested almost EUR 70 million in CapEx, maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation and prioritizing high return opportunities. EBITDA non-IFRS stood at almost EUR 96 million, representing a margin of 7.6%. As always, we also try to provide our most up-to-date information, where year-to-date semester sales index remains around 101. Information updated on the 31st of August, which underscores the resilience of our business model despite weakness in consumption across many countries. These results reflect our commitment to sustainable growth, operational excellence, and prudent financial management. Now moving on to the second quarter data on Slide 11, please. Sales amounted to almost EUR 642 million, reflecting a 0.4% year-on-year growth or 3.9% when excluding the impact of the business disposals.
Our semester sales index was 100.9%, indicating continuous stability on our comparable units. EBITDA for the quarter reached almost EUR 108 million, representing a 16.8% margin. Non-IFRS EBITDA stood at EUR 61 million, with a margin of 9.5%, while EBIT amounted to EUR 34.4 million, with a margin of 5.0%. During this quarter, we executed 21 new openings and invested almost EUR 39 million in CapEx. Moving to Slide 12, please, you can find the quarterly sales and semester index evolution. In the second quarter, we benefited from the typical seasonality of our business, as you can see on the left-hand graph, which provides a supportive backdrop for sales. This is why we always suggest analyzing the results with a more long-term window, especially first quarter results.
However, overall, growth was affected by geopolitical tensions that resulted in a challenging macroeconomic environment across many countries, with a direct impact in consumer sentiments across most of our markets. Despite these headwinds and also a competitive landscape, our quarterly revenue evolution demonstrates the resilience of our business model. Turning now to Slide 13, please. We will focus on EBITDA performance for the second quarter. In this second quarter, as we have seen, EBITDA was almost EUR 103 million. Margins remain robust in the 17% area, underscoring our ability to maintain healthy profitability even in a dynamic market environment. The EBITDA bridge on the slide illustrates how we have successfully protected unit economics through the management of effective labor and productivity initiatives. These levers have enabled us to offset inflationary pressure and competitive challenges, ensuring that our operational efficiency remains strong. Turning to Slide 14, please.
Let's look now at our operating profit and cash generation for the second quarter. EBIT reached EUR 34.4 million in the second quarter, representing a 5.4% margin. This marks a significant increase of more than 4 percentage points compared to the second quarter of last year, thanks to a substantial reduction in performance charges. This improvement reflects our ongoing efforts to enhance the quality of our earnings and strengthen our operational discipline. Additionally, operating cash flow increased strongly on the quarter, reaching EUR 106 million, reverting in this way part of the negative seasonal effects that we saw during the first quarter of the year. Now moving to Slide 15, please. I would like to highlight several key developments regarding our restaurant portfolio and financial performance with this slide.
First, over the last 12 months, our net equity restaurant count increased by 57 units, reflecting our commitment to selective growth and high potential markets and formats. At the same time, the number of franchise restaurants decreased, primarily due to the transfer of the Pizza Hut France business, which was part of our ongoing strategy to optimize the portfolio and focus resources where they can deliver the greatest returns. From a financial perspective, the net profit of the group reached almost EUR 8 million in the quarter compared to the losses of EUR 23 million one year ago. Additionally, our free cash flow generation improves with an increase in operating cash flow while maintaining a gradual reduction in the CapEx. If we move to Slide 16, please. Here, you can find a detailed overview of our liquidity and leverage position.
Our overall risk profile has remained largely unchanged despite an increase in our net financial debt that sits at EUR 521 million at the end of the quarter. Importantly, leverage stands at 2.1x , which is below our internal target range and reflects a disciplined approach to financial management, consistent in accounting to maintaining balance sheet strength while continuing to invest selectively. Finally, at the end of the second quarter, we held EUR 132 million in cash, and we have access to EUR 210 million in available credit lines unused, ensuring that our liquidity position remains both prudent and efficient, fully aligned with the group's operational and strategic needs. On Slide 17, you can find an overview of our financial debt structure and maturity profile. As you can see, there have been no significant changes compared to the previous quarters.
Our funding remains stable and well-balanced, with the vast majority of our debt denominated in euros. The maturity schedule is well-lagged, with a clear long-term orientation. Going into Slide 18, we can find the breakdown of revenues, EBITDA, and the number of restaurants that we have in each geography. These segments comprise businesses in 22 countries where we have observed, once more, very different commercial dynamics. As usual, we will start with Central and Eastern Europe, our more relevant region from a business perspective that represents more than 60% of the group business. You can find this information on slides 11 and 20. Sales generated in the region during the quarter amounted to almost EUR 400 million, reflecting a growth of 8% compared to the previous year. Remark the strong performance that we have in the Polish market, our main market, where revenues increased by almost 10%.
EBITDA generated in the region during the quarter totaled EUR 79 million, representing a margin of almost 20% and a growth of 7% year on year. The restaurant portfolio in the region comprised 1,249 units at the end of the quarter, following the opening of 13 restaurants and the closure of one. This leads year-to-date openings to 27, with six closures. In slides 21 and 22, we can continue with Western Europe. Sales generated in the region during the second quarter reached EUR 220 million, representing a decline of almost 2% compared to the same period of 2024. This performance reflects significant divergence across countries, where Spain and Germany grew at rates above inflation. France recorded a steep decline of 14%. EBITDA for the quarter reached nearly EUR 34 million, representing a margin of 15.3% and a decline of 8% in nominal terms.
The restaurant portfolio closed the period with 772 units, following the opening of five restaurants and the closure of 10. Year-to-date, six restaurants were opened and 18 units were closed. If we move now to slides 23 and 24, please. We have here the performance of China, where sales in the region declined by more than 9%. This is in euro terms, reaching EUR 22.6 million during the quarter. However, this decrease in local currency or constant euros would be 5%. The macroeconomic environment and the global decline in consumption in the country are the reasons for this performance. Nominal EBITDA amounted to EUR 5.2 million, representing a margin of almost 23% compared to 24% in the previous year. The number of restaurants managed by Blue Frog in the region at the end of the quarter was 82 units, following the opening of three restaurants and the closure of three.
On a year-to-date basis, three restaurants were opened and eight were closed during these months. With this, Eduardo, we have covered the whole presentation. Back to you.
Many thanks, Santi. Looking ahead, our strategic focus areas are clear and well-defined. First, we will continue to protect everyday value and convenience across all our brands, ensuring that our offerings remain attractive and accessible to a broad base of consumers, regardless of market conditions. Second, we are committed to scaling digital engagement and loyalty, leveraging technology to deepen consumer frequency, personalize experiences, and drive incremental sales across our omnichannel platform. Third, we will maintain strict cost control discipline and unlock further efficiencies, particularly as we continue to realize the benefits from our recent supply chain transition. This will help us to preserve margins and reinvest in growth initiatives. Finally, we will allocate capital to the best opportunities across formats and geographies, prioritizing investments that offer the highest returns and support our long-term strategic objectives.
We are confident that our disciplined approach and strategic clarity will enable us to create sustainable value for our shareholders and all stakeholders going forward. Many thanks, everyone. With this, we're open to any questions that you may have.
Thank you very much. We now would like to open the lines for the Q&A section of today's call. As a reminder, if you would like to raise a question, please do so now by pressing star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to remove yourself from the line of questioning, it will be star followed by two. Those of us that have joined online can also submit a text question via the Q&A button on your browser now. A reminder to raise a question will be star followed by one. Our first question comes from [JP Rhododex] from France. JP, your line is now open.
Hello, everyone. Thank you for this presentation and thank you for numbers which are better than they look like. I have several points. One, could you, do you have an idea of the outlook for the rest of the year? Do you confirm a guidance? Do you give a guidance for the rest of the year at this stage? Well done for the organic growth because in this environment, it's very difficult to have organic growth. I'm sure you are outperforming your local markets. That's thanks to the initiatives you described at the beginning of the presentation. How about inorganic growth? I mean, store openings and also acquisitions because the restaurant sector is currently depressed. It's probably a good time to make acquisitions, and you have now some leverage to do that.
In terms of restaurant opening, you told us that you would have a significant opening program towards the second half of the year. Do you confirm that? The first half of the year, your restaurant opening program net of closures was a bit shy. I have a third point regarding China because in one of your press releases, maybe that's a sentence which was left over from the last time, but you say that China is doing very well and it's actually no. That's a more general point. Maybe for next time, could you a little bit clarify your financial communications? Your slides are very clear, but when we read your press release, it's not so clear.
It would be helpful to have in your financial release comparative tables like for like because we are financial analysts and we, to be honest, we struggle a little bit in reconciling numbers because there are numbers a little bit all over the place. One, outlook for the rest of the year. Two, inorganic growth. Three, China. Four, financial communication.
Okay. Thank you, JP, for your questions. Starting with the outlook for the rest of the year, we're reporting the first half. The third quarter is quite relevant in terms of results for the cumulative figures. At this point, we are keeping the guidance that we gave. I'm going to connect this question with the second one that you also make, sorry, the fourth one that you make in terms of the openings. As you highlighted, we are a little bit behind in terms of the openings. It's taking more time than expected. Usually, in the second half, we have a stronger number in terms of opening, which is going to still be the case, but we may face some of the openings that we have programmed for the fourth quarter would be dropping to the first half of 2026. That's something that we are seeing right now.
As you highlighted, that is consistent with your comments. In terms of your organic growth, that is the second question that you made, and you mentioned that it's quite difficult right now for the industry. We need to split within the different regions. Overall, as we said, in terms of same-store sales, we are overall marginally up, but there are high differences across the different regions. Poland, as Santi was mentioning, keeps quite positive. In general terms, Central and Eastern Europe markets have higher numbers than the one that we show overall. We have very specific countries in which we are suffering in terms of the organic growth. Particularly, the two markets that have this situation or face this situation are France and Germany, which are the most challenging for us and the ones that we are putting an important look at it and highlight.
The third topic that you were raising in terms of inorganic growth, as you mentioned, the sector is depressed. Yes, we also live that and see that. One of the topics that is quite relevant for us, always opportunities occur, and we are constantly measuring opportunities that could be there. One of the positive things that we have at this moment is the level of leverage that we have accomplished and that we are keeping. As we mentioned, at the low end of the level that it was set as a company that we feel comfortable with. We have the flexibility to do that, but we have to be very disciplined, and that's something that we remain in terms of having and analyzing and, let's say, advancing the analysis on really the opportunities that can make sense, something that really could deliver value in terms of the portfolio of AmRest.
Positively, we have that flexibility in our financials. I already addressed the fourth topic that you mentioned in terms of openings while I was connecting it to the first question. I take note of the fifth topic that you mentioned in terms of the comparables. One thing that we can do is organize a call with the Investor Relations team and the suggestions that you may have. We can discuss it. If it's in better transparency of the company that we are always aiming to, we can go through that. I think it would be good to have a discussion separate on this one to be able to address the suggestions that you have, JP.
Yes.
Thanks, JP.
That would help because Polish investors are not so familiar with listed restaurant businesses. When I see sell recommendations from Polish brokers on a business with such a strength and so well run like AmRest, I wonder whether there is not a miscommunication issue because, as you know, I've been investing in the restaurant sector for 30 years. Frankly, your operation is super strong and super well managed. Again, your results, even for the first half, are actually better than they look like.
Thank you very much, JP. Yes, we have been in contact for quite several times. You know us and the trajectory that we have. Thank you for your comments and everything that we can do in order to improve in terms of the communication. We are open to hear that. Let's have and hear your suggestions in the following days.
Okay. Thanks very much. One word about China, perhaps, because in one of your press releases, you say China is doing well and sales are down. There is a sentence which says that China is doing well and actually sales are down.
Yes. From the macro perspective, what has happened is that during the first part of the year, with all the noise with respect to this rate elevation, tariffs, and so on, it was a push in terms of exports that pushed the growth of the country. From a macro perspective, when you see the headline figure, it was a very strong growth. However, in terms of the feeling and what we are seeing in terms of the consumption pattern, the situation has not improved. What we were trying to convey here is this idea that in this occasion, the macro headline was not really aligned with the situation that we are seeing in terms of the day-to-day people and in the terms of the consumption pattern. I hope that with this, we have clarified this point.
Okay. Yes. Thank you. Thanks again. Your figures are stronger than they may be perceived by today's share price reaction, at least.
Thank you very much.
Thanks very much.
Thank you very much. As a reminder, if you would like to raise a question, please signal now by pressing star followed by one on your telephone keypad. You can also submit a question online.
Maybe I will take and use the privilege of moderator and ask a couple of questions from my end. Guys, if you could help us to walk through the segments a bit again. First of all, very decent numbers from Poland, whereas the grocers were complaining on weather. Do you see it as a strength of the restaurant market overall, or you've been better than the restaurant market in Poland over the second quarter of this year? How do you see it?
Double-digit growth in terms of performance in the country, margins of 20%. I think that, as you are describing, they are better than our peers. I think that our position as a leading brand operator in the country is out of doubt. We are having very, very good results. Part of the strength of our portfolio is that despite weather effects and despite all the other concerns, the business is extremely resilient. Of course, this is something that has to be seen in the context of the different brands that we have across different countries. In the case of Poland, we have several brands, and this is the case.
Okay. You will keep on complaining on German market, but in fact, if you look into the numbers from the German operations for the second quarter alone, 19.9% EBITDA margin, decent growth year over year. Is it still that bad? We are not seeing something because of the numbers? What's happening there? Because on numbers, it doesn't look that bad.
Thank you, Lukasz, for making that question. I think it's relevant. We have a couple of one-time effects over there that are helping EBITDA. Not to mention one of them. Last year, we faced in one of our restaurants, in fact, the best KFC that we have in Germany, a fire. It was closed for quite some time because it takes a time to rebuild it. All the claims that we have and the times to put that to work again. We receive resources from the insurance company that were registered in this second quarter. Plus, now this restaurant is working again. That has helped.
Can you put in a number behind the cash from insurance?
A little bit less than EUR 1 million, Lukasz.
Okay. Things like that. The way that I'm mentioning it, if we measure it, one of the topics that we want to convey here is that it's quite relevant to separate or analyze the geographies in different ways. Seen markets continue being quite a strong performance with very positive results. We need to acknowledge that we have certain markets that are lagging in terms of consumption. That's why I highlighted Germany and France. As you see in our numbers, the one that really we are facing the most challenges is France.
If I may add over here, a couple of points to complement the comments from Eduardo. The first one, when we were referring to Poland before, I was referring also to the footprint that we have in the country and the complementarity of the brands. In the case of Germany, what we have is a different footprint. We have a small presence in terms of KFC, and most of our business is Starbucks. This is a type of business that is less resilient to the economic cycles that the QSRs are. It's a coffee segment that provides other types of users. What we are seeing right now is a recovery, as you can see in the figures. We were facing from several quarters a tough situation over here.
In terms of the restaurant fire, unfortunately, we have this situation in one of our best, not one of our best, in our best KFC restaurant in Germany. We face a very similar situation, unfortunately, in the case of France. Basically, due to the time difference between the fire, where basically we don't have the asset available, and the negotiations that we need to have with the insurance, this time lag obliges us to need to book as a loss the value that we have in these restaurants. When we receive the insurance payment, we post it as a positive income. We have this situation in the case of Germany, and we have the opposite side in the case of France for this quarter. It's a very, as I said, unfortunate situation on the overall performance of the group.
This is neutral, but we have a fire in the second quarter of this year in one of our KFC restaurants in France, where we were obliged to book EUR 800,000 of a loss. This is affecting the profitability that we see in the country. There are several things as well. I know that there is certain complexity because we have business in many different countries. To remind that when you see the figures of France, last October, in October 2024, we booked also the transfer of the Pizza Hut business in the country. This is something that is also affecting the comparability of the figures that we have. This, of course, doesn't change the fact that we are facing a very challenging environment in this specific market, just to contextualize and to go deeper into these figures. I hope that this helps.
Okay. Thank you. Can you also help us understand the segment called Other? It seems that the disposal of SCM made the losses in other segments much, much deeper. Should we read it that previously SCM was responsible for like $6 million of positive EBITDA per quarter? This time we're at EUR 10.1 million, but last year was EUR 3.7 million. There are no revenues behind. Can you help us to understand these numbers?
SCM, as you know, it was our subsidiary. We have referred to this situation during the call in where we have a stake of 51% in this company that it was sold during the first quarter of this year. Basically, what that was meaning is that we were consolidating in the past the full results of this company. That is why, I don't want to go too much technical here, but in the minorities in our P&L account, you could see in the past how part of the profits and realities of the company were for the minorities and not to the parent company. When you see all these figures, what you find is that the EBITDA of this company, it was around EUR 8 million, and around half of this figure, of course, it was referring to the minorities of the company.
Now that we have this consolidation of these assets, basically, that is not in our numbers anymore. What you see in this line of others is the reflection on the cost of central services that we have in the company that are not allocated to any specific business geography. Then the IR team, the executive team, and other general services. I hope that this clarifies a little bit the numbers.
Okay, thank you very much.
Are there any questions from the room? We currently have no further audio questions on the line.
We have received also some writing questions. Some of them, I think, that we have already addressed them. We have received questions about if the guidance that we provided for 2025, if we maintain the guidance, the EBITDA margins, and so on. I think that Eduardo addressed already this. We maintain the guidance that we have. We may see some deviation in terms of new store openings. Broadly speaking, there is no reason for us to deviate from the guidance that we have provided. Always, when we pass the first quarter of the year, for me, it's like a relief. You know that we have a very strong seasonality on our numbers. The first quarter, it has this special seasonality in terms of witness that there is no reason for us, was more in order to modify the guidance that we have provided to the market.
We have received some questions regarding the performance on France and Germany that I think that we have already addressed them. I think that with this, we have covered all the topics that have been raised. Operator, I guess that with this, I don't know, Eduardo, if you want to.
Thank you, everybody, for joining the AmRest second quarter results. It's always a pleasure to be in contact with you, and we hope to have the opportunity to see you in one of our restaurants in the near future. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. As we conclude today's call, we'd like to thank everyone for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.