May 10 (SeeNews) - Dutch-held NN Group has increased its shareholding interest in Romania's Sphera Franchise Group, the manager of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands in the country, to 5.07%, Sphera said.
NN Group has paid 4.2 million lei ($987,631/ 882,371 euro) for 242,427 shares, Sphera Franchise Group said in a statement submitted to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB, on Thursday.
NN previously owned 3.93% interest in Sphera.
The Dutch group operates in Romania since 1997 and provides life insurance, mandatory pensions, voluntary pensions and asset management.
Sphera's net profit rose 4.5% year-on-year to 34 million lei in 2018, driven by a 4.5% rise in operating profit to 103.2 million lei. Its sales leapt to 771.2 million lei in 2018, up 24.6% compared to the pro forma sales of the previous year. The main driver of the increase was the growth in the sales of KFC Romania.
The main shareholders are Tatika Investments Cyprus with 27%, MBL Computers with 20%, Wellkept Group Bucuresti with 16.3% and Anasa Properties with 10.9%.
Shares of Sphera Franchise Group started trading on the BVB in November 2017, following a 285 million lei IPO. The company became the first food service operator listed on the BVB.
Sphera's shares traded 1.27% higher at 20 lei as at 1228 CET on Friday on the BVB.
(1 euro=4.7584 lei)