Therefore, as of September 1st, 2020 the Group has active 157 out of 158 restaurants on all three markets of activity: Romania, Italy and the Republic of Moldova.
As a result of the re-opening of the indoor restaurants, the Group confirms that all KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell employees in Romania have returned from technical unemployment starting September 1st, 202
“All the active stores adhere to strict hygiene and sanitation rules, which include monitoring the health of employees, equipping them with disposable gloves and masks, multiple disinfection of kitchen surfaces, encouraging payment with contactless card and placing containers with disinfectants available to customers. Additionally, new measures were imposed in all the restaurants in Romania in order to create a safe environment, to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 virus, to carry out quality operations in restaurants and to ensure the health of employees and customers,” the Group said in a stock market announcement.
The Group’s consolidated sales saw significant declines in the second quarter of 2020, of 54%, to RON106.3 million, compared to the same period in 2019, with the most significant impact being felt in April, when most restaurants were fully closed and the delivery activity was limited.
Sphera Group reported a net loss of RON22.3 million in the first half of 2020 (excluding the impact of IRFS 16 adoption), compared with a RON18 million profit in the same period last year. Its consolidated restaurant sales stood at RON304.5 million, 31.6% lower compared with the first half of 2019.
Sphera Franchise Group is indirectly controlled by Radu Dimofte (43.7%), Nicolae Badea (21.4%), Lucian Vlad (11.0%) and other shareholders (23.9%).