McDonald's franchisee to merge with parent co Westlife

Hardcastle Restaurants, which runs the franchisee for McDonald's in the Western and Southern regions, said it is merging with its parent company Westlife Development. "The BL Jatia family and certain group companies were consolidated into Westlife Development and as part of this move, Hardcastle Restaurants will become a part of Westlife. The consolidation opens up opportunities to invest in growth of McDonald's franchise through Westlife and Hardcastle," Westlife Development vice-chairman Amit Jatia told PTI.

He also said the move opens up options for Harcastle to accelerate growth plans for expanding McDonald's footprint. "The board today made the decision. Now we are just waiting for regulatory approvals," he said. In terms of shareholding, 25 per cent equity of Westlife is with the public and the rest with the Jatia family, he added. Last fiscal, Hardcastle had reported a net profit of Rs 42.51 crore on a revenue of Rs 544.46 crore. It operates 148 McDonald's restaurants across West and south at present.