Having achieved TL 1.25 billion in net profit last year with an increase of 45 percent, Turkey's discount grocery chain BİM plans to open 820 new stores this year, with a projected investment of TL 1.1 billion.

According to the grocery chain's financial results reported to Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) on Wednesday, the company's consolidated sales reached some TL 32.3 billion last year with a growth rate of around 30 percent.

This year, the company expects to increase its sales by 25 percent with plus/minus 2 percentage points and see a 5 percent EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) margin with plus/minus 0.5 percentage points.

On Wednesday, one of Turkey's leading supermarket chains, Migros, also announced that it is planning to open at least 100 new stores in 2019, with a projected capital investment of TL 300 million. Turkey's antitrust agency the Competition Authority also announced on Monday that it launched an investigation into 23 grocery chain stores operating in retail food sales, including Migros and BİM.