February 26 (SeeNews) - Sphera Franchise Group [BSE:SFG], the manager of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands in Romania, said on Friday that it swung to a net loss of 2.3 million lei ($574,249 million/ 473,689 euro) in 2020, from a 64.1 million lei net profit in 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Consolidated sales decreased by an annual 25.6% to 710.8 million lei in 2020, Sphera Franchise Group said in a statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
Last year's sales were well above the revised estimate, and were determined by right business decisions that helped maximize the sales in the second half of 2020, Sphera said.
Sales in Moldova fell 23.4% to 8.6 million lei in 2020, while sales in Romania decreased by 26% to 625 million lei. Sales in Italy decreased by 22.3% to 76.4 million lei in 2020.
"We made the right management decisions, we managed to maximize revenues and minimize the costs, thus providing the best possible result in what was certainly the biggest hit that the HoReCa industry took since we have been on the market. This year, we will continue to improve in terms of costs, investment in development and we will further focus on delivery services," Sphera general manager Calin Ionescu said in a separate press release.
During 2020, the restaurants operated by the group registered an operating profit of 49.3 million lei, 60.4% lower compared with 2019, according to the statement.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 64.5% to 36.9 million lei in 2020.
Restaurant expenses decreased by 20.3% to 662 million lei last year due to lower food, raw material, payroll, royalties, advertising and rent expenses.
As at end-2020, the group had 4,802 employees, out of whom 4,401 were in Romania, 323 in Italy and 78 in Moldova.
Sphera's shares traded 1.60% lower at 15.4 lei as at 1431 CET on Friday on the BVB.
(1 euro=4.8745 lei)