(Reuters) - Spanish restaurant chain Telepizza (MC:TPZ) raised several full-year targets on Tuesday despite a dip in first-half core profit, citing rising international sales and growth in deliveries through its digital sales channel in its domestic market.
The company raised its outlook for 2017 total sales growth in Spain to 5-6 percent from 4-6 percent and core international total sales growth to 12-14 percent from 9-11 percent.
Its target for net new stores in the company's other main European markets was increased to between 70 and 80 from 60-80, while the lower end of its cash earnings per share (EPS) guidance was raised by 2 cents to 0.32-0.35 euros per share.
The pizza delivery company returned to profit in the first half. It made a net profit of 15.4 million euros (13.68 million pounds), against a net loss of 19.3 million euros a year earlier that was attributed to charges linked to its initial public offering (IPO).
Core profit (EBITDA) was down 3.5 percent at 34.7 million euros because of higher operating costs, the company said.
In the first three months of 2017 the company opened its first stores in the UK.