A spike in finance expenses has hit the bottom line of Turkish food group Ulker, although operating profit and sales at the company were up.

Ulker booked net income of TRL111m for the six months to the end of June, down from TRL115.5m a year earlier as finance costs jumped by over two-thirds.

However, the company posted a 28.3% rise in operating income to TRL200.9m as back revenue climbed 16.1% to TRL1.33trn.

Ulker is majority-owned by Turkish conglomerate Yildiz Holding. Earlier this month, Yildiz reportedly said it would look to sell 10% of Ulker.