The Guzman Y Gomez Ltd (ASX: GYG) share price is in focus today after reporting its FY26 half-year result.
Guzman Y Gomez is a restaurant business that sells Mexican food. It has corporate-owned and franchise locations in Australia, corporate-owned locations in the US, and franchise locations in Japan and Singapore.
Guzman Y Gomez FY26 half-year result
Here are some of the highlights from the report for the six months to 31 December 2025:
- Network sales rose 18% to $681.8 million
- Revenue grew 23% to $261.2 million
- EBITDA (EBITDA explained) rose 29.6% to $40.9 million
- Net profit after tax (NPAT) jumped 44.9% to $10.6 million
- First interim dividend declared of $0.074
What happened?
The business groups Australia, Japan and Singapore into an ‘Australia segment’, while the US is another segment. It opened 17 new restaurants globally during the half, with 14 in Australia, one in Singapore and two in the US.
The Australia segment saw network sales growth of 17.5% to $673.6 million, with comparable sales growth of 4.4%. Australian corporate sales grew 22.2% to $215.1 million, though the corporate restaurant margin increased to 17.6% (down from 18% in HY25).
Australia segment franchise and other revenue increased 12.1% to $42.8 million, suggesting the implied franchise royalty rate increased 0.3 percentage points to 8.6%.
Australia segment underlying EBITDA grew 30%, with the margin of network sales increasing 0.6 percentage points to 6.1%.
In the US, network sales grew 67% to $8.2 million and the number of restaurants doubled to eight. However, it only saw comparable sales growth of 2.9% and the US segment underlying EBITDA worsened by 65.7% to $8.3 million.
Guzman Y Gomez attributed the worsening US profit to the cost of new restaurant openings. It saw operating leverage of its general and administration (G&A) costs as a percentage of network sales, falling from 78.1% in HY25 to 48.2% in HY26.
For comparison, the Australia segment G&A costs were 5.8% in HY26, (down from 6.7% in HY25), so there is clearly room for further growth.
Outlook for the Guzman Y Gomez share price
It expects to open a total of 32 restaurants in Australia in FY26, suggesting that there will be 18 opened in the second half.
The business also expects its Australia segment underlying EBITDA as a percentage of network sales to increase to between 6% to 6.2%, up from 5.7% in FY25, though it was 6.1% in HY26.
In the US, the company expects the corporate restaurant margin to improve through FY26 as sales momentum continues and operating leverage benefits are realised. Lower losses are expected in the US in the second half compared to the first half, with improving restaurant profitability and stable G&A ‘investment’.
The ASX share is not growing network sales as fast as it was, but it’s still growing at a strong pace and profit is increasing faster than revenue.
As a long-term shareholder, I’m optimistic about what the business can achieve in the coming decade, particularly beyond Australia’s shores. I think Guzman Y Gomez share price would be very appealing on weakness, considering its long-term plans.
