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LONDON (Alliance News) - DP Poland PLC, the company which has the exclusive right to develop, operate and franchise Domino's Pizza stores in Poland, said it wants to add to the 19 pizza stores already open in Warsaw and Krakow, as it reported a widening of its pretax loss in 2014.
In a statement, DP Poland said it made a GBP3.6 million pretax loss in 2014, compared with a GBP3.3 million pretax loss in 2013, as depreciation, amortisation and impairment charges more than doubled to GBP890,269 from GBP438,041.
Its loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation narrowed to GBP2.6 million from GBP2.8 million as revenue increased to GBP3.8 million from GBP3.2 million, helping against increases in distribution costs to GBP545,975 from GBP507,678 and in administrative expenses to GBP3.8 million from GBP3.7 million.
Retail sales including sales from corporate and franchised stores increased to GBP4.0 million in 2014 from GBP2.9 million, the company said, while like-for-like systems sales were up 19% and like-for-like system order count was up 19%.
"While it will be a challenge to maintain the level of like-for-like performance that we enjoyed in 2014, January 2015 like-for-like system sales were up 18% and total store EBITDA in that month was the highest month to date. February 2015 like-for-like system sales were up 17%," Chief Executive Peter Shaw said in a statement.
"With an acceleration in store openings we anticipate absorbing moderate losses on those new stores before they hit EBITDA breakeven. The smaller format S2 concept store, coupled with lower utilities and telecommunications costs, allows us to run a store at significantly lower costs than our original larger store formats," Shaw said.
The CEO said the company expects the new store opening to hurt EBITDA in the shorter term, but is optimistic that the business will be strengthened as the stores turn EBITDA positive in the longer term.
Shaw also said the company is at an advanced stage in the planning process for more stores outside of Warsaw.
"We have capacity in our Warsaw commissary for 2015 and are considering options for 2016 onwards, with the emphasis on low capital expenditure and flexibility," Shaw said.
DP Poland shares were down 4.4% at 22.95 pence in early afternoon trade on Monday.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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