Pizza firm DP Eurasia falls to net loss on forex, debt costs
(Reuters) - DP Eurasia, which runs the Domino's Pizza brand in Turkey and Russia, slumped to a net loss of 6.7 million Turkish lira (£918,695) in 2018, hit by foreign exchange losses and increased debt costs.
The company was hit by movements in the Russian rouble against the euro prior to the refinancing of its euro denominated bank loans in Russia. The cost of bank loans had risen in both Turkey and Russia.
"In the coming years, management expects foreign exchange results will be less volatile due to the fact that the group no longer has any hard currency bank borrowings," the pizza firm added.
The company, which is the fifth-largest master franchise of Domino's, also reported growth in full-year core earnings of 21.8 percent as it increased sales and opened new stores.
System sales, which reflect total sales of all the company's outlets that use the Domino's Pizza brand, rose to 859.8 million Turkish lira.
It expects to open between 25 and 30 stores in Turkey and between 40 and 60 in Russia in 2019.
During the first two months of 2019, the company opened a net three stores. It expects like for like growth to be high single digits in Turkey and low to mid teens in Russia.
(Reporting by Anna Rzhevkina; Editing by Louise Heavens and David Holmes)