BENGALURU, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Restaurant Brands Asia, which operates Burger King and Popeyes chains in India and Indonesia, reported a narrower third-quarter loss on Monday, boosted by strong sales in the festive season.
The company's consolidated net loss narrowed to 361.8 million rupees ($4.4 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, from 504.2 million rupees a year earlier.
Nonetheless, this is the company's seventeenth consecutive quarterly loss, hurt this time around by a nearly 10% jump in total expenses.
The company, which runs quick service chains owned by Restaurant Brands International, said prices of ingredients including chicken, cheese, tomatoes and onions rose 12.6%.
However, revenue increased about 15% during the quarter, helped by consumers stepping out during the Diwali festival in India and the Christmas holiday period more broadly.
Sales also got a boost in India, which accounts for about 74% of total sales, as some vegetarian-centric religious periods fell in September this year, instead of October.
During the October-December quarter, Restaurant Brands Asia's same-store sales growth at Indian Burger King restaurants slowed to 2.6% from 28% in the year-ago quarter.
Rival fast food chain operators such as KFC-operator Devyani International, Pizza Hut-operator Sapphire Foods, McDonald's-operator Westlife Foodworld and Domino's India-franchisee Jubilant FoodWorks are yet to report results.
Restaurant Brands Asia's shares closed down at 2.9% ahead of results on Monday.
($1 = 83.1300 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Savio D'Souza
Source: Reuters