Burger King's India operator posts bigger loss as costs rise

BENGALURU/CHENNAI (Reuters) - Restaurant Brands Asia Ltd, earlier known as Burger King India, reported a wider fourth-quarter loss on Wednesday, as it spent more on ingredients at a time when it is also expanding in India and Indonesia.

Restaurants in India have been feeling the pinch from rising costs of essentials such as cheese and milk, with expenses rising in recent quarters even as prices of vegetables have eased off their highs.

They are also wrestling with a slowdown in demand from inflation-weary consumers.

Earlier in the day, Domino's franchisee Jubilant Foodworks and KFC-operator Devyani International also reported downbeat results, in line with the performances of McDonald's-operator Westlife FoodWorld and Yum Brands franchisee Sapphire Foods.

Restaurant Brands Asia's consolidated net loss widened to 733.7 million rupees (nearly $9 million) in the quarter ended March 31, from 670.7 million rupees a year earlier.

Its revenue from operations increased nearly 29% to 5.14 billion rupees as it opened tens of new restaurants over the past year to enter new cities and fend off competition.

However, total expenses also rose roughly 29%, taking the shine off the topline growth of the company, which also operates Restaurant Brands International's Popeyes restaurants in India and Indonesia.

Restaurant Brands Asia's shares closed marginally lower on Wednesday before it reported results. They have fallen 4% so far this year. ($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru and Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Savio D'Souza)