Pizza firm DP Eurasia, which runs the Domino’s Pizza brand in Turkey and Russia, said on Tuesday its sales jumped 58.3% in January to June from a year earlier on high demand in Turkey and amid weak comparables due to the pandemic.
Sales at the group’s own stores and franchise outlets rose to TL 1.05 billion ($121.87 million), coming in well above the TL 645.4 million it reported in the first half of 2019.
DP Eurasia said it saw unprecedented demand in Turkey, with a May/June like-for-like growth rate of 70.3%, driven mainly by delivery and tailwinds from a temporary reduction in the value-added tax (VAT) rate to 1% from 8%.
It said, though, that while growth amid the COVID-19-inspired shift to home deliveries was encouraging, it is too early to regard it as a permanent change in demand.
All restrictions on dine-in and curfews were lifted in Turkey at the beginning of July, DP Eurasia said.
However, in Russia, while like-for-like sales grew 32.4% in the May-June period compared to a 21.2% growth in the March-April period, last month authorities imposed a ban on dine-in in Moscow amid a sharp uptick of COVID-19 cases.
The London-listed company added it expects full-year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for 2021 to be in line with expectations.
DP Eurasia reinstated in March its forecasts for 2021, saying it expects like-for-like growth of 12-15% for the year in Russia and 21-25% in Turkey.
