Trading Update

RNS Number : 6480F

DP Eurasia N.V

18 November 2020

 

For Immediate Release

18 November 2020

DP Eurasia N.V.

("DP Eurasia" or the "Company", and together with its subsidiaries, the " Group ")

Trading Update for the Ten Months Ended 31 October 2020

Strong momentum in current trading carried through from interims

	For the period ended 31 October
	2020	2019		Change
	(in millions of TRY, unless otherwise indicated)
Number of stores	748	749	-1
Group system sales (1)
Turkey	853.1	692.1	23.3%
Russia	372.7	408.4	-8.7%
Azerbaijan & Georgia	23.1	16.9	37.2%
Total	1,248.9	1,117.3	11.8%
Group system sales like-for-like growth(2)
Group(5)	14.6%	9.3%
Turkey	23.2%	11.4%
Russia (based on RUB)	-15.2%	1.4%

Highlights

· Group system sales increased 11.8%, despite Covid-19 related operational constraints and increased competition in Russia due to aggregators

o  Turkish systems sales growth of 23.3%

o  Russian system sales decrease of 8.7% (16.9% based on RUB)

· Group online system sales⁽⁴⁾ growth of 37.9%

o  Turkish online system sales growth of 51.2%

o  Russian online system sales growth of 19.6% (8.9% based on RUB)

· Online delivery system sales⁽³⁾ as a share of delivery system sales at 75.2% (October 2019: 68.7%) reflects our strong online offering and positioning

· Strong liquidity position - TRY 171 million of cash at hand and additional available bank lines of TRY 115 million as at 31 October 2020

· In 2020, 10 stores opened overall with a further 16 leases signed in Turkey; offsetting 14 and 13 store closures in Turkey and Russia, respectively, due to Covid-19

· Well placed to manage new operational constraints in Turkey following Government policy update on 17 November

Commenting on the update, Chief Executive Officer, Aslan Saranga said:

"Trading performance has continued to improve in Turkey and Russia since our interim results release in September.  Our Turkish operations have maintained their strong summer with a September/October like-for-like growth rate of 43.4%, driven mainly by delivery and, also, tailwinds from a temporary reduction in the VAT rate to 1% from 8%.  Also, encouragingly, in our Russian operations we have continued to see an improving trend in like-for-like growth, at -6.4% and -2.2% in September and October, respectively, up from the -10.9% reported in July/August and the lows of -30%s during the Moscow lockdown in the spring.

"We continue to innovate new product offerings to drive order flow and repeat customers.  We launched our Döner kebab (chawarma) suite of products in Turkey with a new advertising campaign, which has shown promising early results, in October.  In Russia, we launched our new and improved pizza in mid-October, with a new dough formulation as well as new key toppings, backed by a Greater Moscow TV campaign.  Whilst early days, this new campaign resulted in positive like-for-like growth rates for the second half of October.

"The strong performance in Turkey has driven an uptick in demand for stores from franchisees.  We have already opened nine stores in Turkey in 2020 and have also signed leases for 16 additional stores, which we are targeting to open late this year/early next year.

"Digital continues to be the main driver of the business as our channel mix has tilted more towards delivery due to the pandemic, reflecting broader shifts toward online consumerism.  Online ordering as a percentage of delivery reached 75.2 % for the period, an increase of 6.5 percentage points over the last twelve months.

"Daily new Covid-19 cases have been increasing in both Turkey and Russia in the autumn and we note the announcement by the Turkish government on 17 November which re-introduces certain operational constraints.  The announced measures see the suspension of dine-in services at restaurants, a nationwide curfew on the weekends outside the hours of 10:00 - 20:00 and all week curfews for people aged less than 20 and more than 65 outside the hours of 10:00 - 16:00.  We expect our stores to remain open and fully operational for takeaway, restrictions permitting, and delivery services, which we expect to remain exempt from these curfew restrictions as they were during the spring.

"Whilst the Board is conscious of the risks posed by any further material worsening of operational constraints, the momentum in current trading is encouraging and supportive of our confidence in our positioning and the prospects for the business through the long term."

Enquiries

DP Eurasia N.V.
Selim Kender, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Investor Relations	[phone]
Buchanan (Financial Communications)
Richard Oldworth / Giles Stewart / Tilly Abraham	[phone] [e-mail]

A conference call for investors and analysts will be held at 9.00am this morning, which will be accessible using the following details:

Conference call:

UK Toll Free: 08003589473 UK Toll: 03333000804 Participant PIN code: 21855320# URL for international dial in numbers: http://events.arkadin.com/ev/docs/NE_W2_TF_Events_International_Access_List.pdf

A recording of the conference call will subsequently be available at www.dpeurasia.com .

Notes to Editors

DP Eurasia N.V. is the exclusive master franchisee of the Domino's Pizza brand in Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The Company was admitted to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange plc on 3 July 2017. The Company (together with its subsidiaries, the " Group " ) is the largest pizza delivery company in Turkey and the third largest in Russia. The Group offers pizza delivery and takeaway/ eat-in facilities at its 748 stores (545 in Turkey, 190 in Russia, nine in Azerbaijan and four in Georgia as at 31 October 2020), and operates through its owned corporate stores (30%) and franchised stores (70%). The Group maintains a strategic balance between corporate and franchised stores, establishing networks of corporate stores in its most densely populated areas to provide a development platform upon which to promote best practice and maximise profitability. The Group has adapted the Domino's Pizza globally proven business model to its local markets.

Performance Review

Store count	As at 31 October
	2020				2019
	Corporate	Franchised	Total		Corporate	Franchised	Total
Turkey	110	435	545		138	405	543
Russia	116	74	190		112	83	195
Azerbaijan	-	9	9		-	7	7
Georgia	-	4	4		-	4	4
Total	226	522	748		250	499	749

Delivery channel mix and online like-for-like growth

The following table shows the Group's delivery system sales ⁽³⁾ , broken down by ordering channel and by the Group's two largest countries in which it operates, as a percentage of delivery system sales for the periods ended 31 October 2020 and 2019:

		For the period ended 31 October
		2020			2019
		Turkey	Russia	Total	Turkey	Russia	Total
Store		28.3 %	10.6 %	23.8 %	32.8 %	19.2 %	28.8 %
Online	Group's online platform	25.8 %	71.9 %	40.1 %	28.8 %	80.7 %	46.9 %
	Aggregator	44.4 %	17.5 %	35.1 %	34.5 %	0.1%	21.8 %
	Total online	70.2 %	89.4 %	75.2 %	63.3 %	80.8 %	68.7 %
Call centre		1.5 %	-	1.0 %	3.9 %	-	2.4 %
Total		100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

The following table shows the Group's online like-for-like growth ⁽²⁾ , broken down by the Group's two largest countries in which it operates, for the periods ended 31 October 2020 and 2019:

	For the period ended 31 October
	2020		2019
Group online system sales like-for-like growth(2)
Group(5)	42.4 %	27.0 %
Turkey	51.2 %	30.2 %
Russia (based on RUB)	12.3 %	14.7 %

Liquidity

The Group continues to have a strong liquidity position, having access to cash at hand and additional borrowing capacity available from its Turkish banks.  As at 31 October 2020, the Group had TRY 171 million of cash at hand and additional available bank lines of TRY 115 million.

The Group's strong liquidity position enables it to prepay its bank borrowings in Russia if required, and still maintain a strong liquidity position.  The Group obtained a waiver from Sberbank with respect to its covenants for the remainder of 2020 on 31 August 2020 and is in negotiations to reset the covenants or repay the remaining loan.  The principal outstanding under the Sberbank loan currently amounts to RUB 1.0 billion, of which RUB 0.2 billion is supported by a cash collateral deposit.

Notes

⁽¹⁾ System sales are sales generated by the Group's corporate and franchised stores to external customers and do not represent revenue of the Group.

⁽²⁾ Like-for-like growth is a comparison of sales between two periods that compares system sales of existing system stores. The Group's system stores that are included in like-for-like system sales comparisons are those the Group considers to be mature operations. The Group considers mature stores to be those stores that have operated for at least 52 weeks preceding the beginning of the first month of the period used in the like-for-like comparisons for a certain reporting period, assuming the relevant system store has not subsequently closed or been "split" (which involves the Group opening an additional store within the same map of an existing store or in an overlapping area).

⁽³⁾ Delivery system sales are system sales of the Group generated through the Group's delivery distribution channel.

⁽⁴⁾ Online system sales are system sales of the Group generated through its online ordering channel.

⁽⁵⁾ Group like-for-like growth is a weighted average of the country like-for-like growths based on store numbers as described in Note (2).

Appendices

Exchange Rates

	For the period ended 31 October
	2020			2019
Currency	Period End	Period Average		Period End	Period Average
EUR/TRY	9.597	7.734		6.377	6.335
RUB/TRY	0.106	0.095		0.089	0.087
EUR/RUB	93.024	80.774		69.341	72.513

Delivery - Take away / Eat in mix

	For the period ended 31 October
	2020			2019
	Turkey	Russia	Total	Turkey	Russia	Total
Delivery	70.8 %	77.0 %	72.6 %	63.5 %	60.5 %	62.3 %
Take away / Eat in	29.2 %	23.0 %	27.4 %	36.5 %	39.5 %	37.7 %
Total(2)	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

Forward looking statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Group's control and all of which are based on the Directors' current beliefs and expectations about future events. They appear in a number of places throughout this press release and include all matters that are not historical facts and include predictions, statements regarding the intentions, beliefs or current expectations of the Directors or the Group concerning, among other things, the results of operations, financial condition, prospects, growth and strategies of the Group and the industry in which it operates.

No assurance can be given that such future results will be achieved; actual events or results may differ materially as a result of risks and uncertainties facing the Group. Such risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to vary materially from the future results indicated, expressed, or implied in such forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company and the Directors expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update these forward-looking statements contained in this press release to reflect any change in their expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which such statements are based.

 

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