(Adds details on inflation and 2023 guidance)
April 12 (Reuters) - DP Eurasia, which runs Domino's Pizza brand in Turkey and Russia, on Wednesday reported a 5.3% rise in its annual core earnings even as it battled inflation in its biggest Turkish market.
The company has been hiking prices and introducing new more affordable products such as Pizzetta, priced at about $1, in response to Turkey's high inflation.
DP said its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), taking into account hyperinflation in Turkey, reached 311.0 million Turkish lira ($16.1 million) in 2022, compared with 295.5 million lira a year earlier.
The lira depreciation and surging energy prices pushed Turkey's annual inflation to a 24-year peak of above 85% in October. The figure dropped to 50.51% in March.
DP, the largest pizza delivery company in Turkey by store count, said 12 out of the total 655 Domino's Pizza stores in the country were not operational after the Feb. 6 earthquake.
But it added the impact of the earthquake on its operations was not expected to be material to 2023.
DP expects to maintain its organic and like-for-like sales growth momentum in 2023 driven by network expansion, volume expansion and targeted price hikes.
After adding 48 stores in Turkey in 2022, it plans to open 35 to 40 stores this year and 50 to 60 outlets of its new coffee chain COFFY.
The company said it continued to evaluate its presence in Russia, after starting the process in December last year. ($1 = 19.3025 liras) (Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi)
