Timo Lappi of the travel and restaurant industry hopes that the preparation of the vaccine passport will continue in case of new virus variants.
Restaurant company Noho Partners believes that the restaurant market will return to normal during April-June this year due to increased vaccine coverage and the alleviation of the corona epidemic.
The company estimates that private consumption will recover quickly when the restrictions are lifted. It expects corporate and event sales to recover gradually.
He is also the managing director of the Tourism and Restaurant Services Mara Association Timo Lappi believes that a new rise in the restaurant industry is possible.
There is pent-up demand, and people are already looking to meet each other, he estimates.
“It all depends on the constraints. If the restrictions are lifted on 28 February, as we hope and expect, and as the government has pointed out, and there are no more new virus variants causing the restrictions, then the rest of the year will look good from the beginning of March, ”Lapland tells HS.
He points out that the early part of the year has been very difficult, and the problems in on-trade restaurants will continue until at least the end of February.
Restaurant company Noho Partners’ figures at the end of last year look promising for the industry.
In October – December, Noho made an operating profit of EUR 6.7 million, compared with a loss of EUR 11.8 million at the end of 2020.
Although the little Christmas season fell short of expectations, Noho’s operating profit in October – December was historically good and the operating profit margin was 9.6 percentage points higher than in the comparison period of the pre-pandemic 2019 period.
According to Noho, the cost savings achieved during the pandemic and streamlined operations will begin to show a clear improvement in relative profitability.
Throughout 2021, the company made an operating loss of EUR 0.9 million.
Net sales for October – December were EUR 69.5 million and full-year net sales were EUR 186.1 million.
Noho’s operating cash flow from operations is expected to turn positive after mid-February 2022 as restrictions ease and to be clearly positive after the restrictions are lifted in March 2022.
Noho does not yet forecast net sales and profitability for the current year, but promises to make the forecast in connection with the January-March interim report at the latest.
Maran Timo Lappi hopes that the preparation of the vaccine passport will continue in case a new variant of the coronavirus is seen, which will increase the burden of medical and intensive care.
That’s when restaurants would rather have a vaccine passport that allows them to open than new, tough restrictions.
A corona passport in its current form would hardly be a solution for the government, as it has been estimated that it is not enough to protect unvaccinated people from the virus.
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