Domino’s Pizza Group recorded double-digit growth at its Irish operation buoyed by a recovering economy and its own investment in digital, the group said on Thursday.
Reporting full-year results for 2017, Domino's reported like-for-like growth in Ireland of 10.8 per cent, while online sales increased 28.8 per cent year-on-year. Those online sales now represent 56.9 per cent of total sales, it said.
Domino’s Pizza has 49 stores in Ireland, having opened two new outlets last year – the first such opening for six year – and it plans further new stores this year.
The UK-headquartered company also reported a better-than-expected 10.2 per cent rise in full-year pretax profit on strength in domestic and other European markets.
The company forecast 65 to 75 store openings in the UK this year, and said UK system sales in the first two months of 2018 climbed 10.9 per cent, with a 7.1 per cent rise in like-for-like sales.
Underlying pretax profit rose to £94.4 million (€105.8m) in the 52 weeks ended December 24th, from £85.7 million (€96.1m) a year earlier, the company said, beating analyst expectations of £92.1 million (€103.3m) in a Thomson Reuters poll.
Domino's Pizza, which has most of its 1,192 stores in the UK, and also operates in Ireland, Switzerland and Germany, said annual sales at UK stores that were open for more than a year rose 4.8 per cent.
New stores
System sales rose 15 per cent to £1.16 billion (€1.3bn) in 2017, primarily driven by strength in the UK, where it opened 95 new stores.
The company, a master franchisee of US group Domino’s Pizza, raised final dividend by 16.7 per cent, and said £50 million (€56m) of share buybacks were planned for 2018.
Much like its parent company, Domino’s Group is focusing on sales through online channels to fend off competition from the likes of Just Eat, an online food delivery company.
In 2017, online order value represented 75 per cent of the total, higher than 71.8 per cent a year earlier. – Additional reporting: Reuters
