Berjaya holds off on acquisitions with Malaysian labour hard to find
The decision has been made despite there being no shortage of acquisition candidates for Berjaya, which operates Kenny Rogers Roasters, Starbucks and Jollibean chains in Malaysia.
“Being the largest F&B player in the country, we are always approached by parties for M&As,” Francis Lee Kok Chuan, chief executive of Berjaya’s food division, told The Edge Financial Daily in an interview.
“Nowadays, it is not easy to get people. We have to hire a lot of people. People are now looking for an easy job, and they think [working in] the F&B [sector] is tiring,” he said.
The company’s focus is now on reducing debt after seeing its net profits drop 92.7% to RM12.31m for the six months ended October 31, despite revenue more than doubling over the period.
