Domino’s makes strong start to year
Domino’s Pizza has made a strong start to the year with 10.8% like-for-like sales growth in its UK stores.
The group, which operates stores in the UK, Germany, Republic of Ireland and Switzerland, said system sales rose by 14.8% to £188.5 million in the 13 weeks to 30 March 2014.
Like-for-like sales climbed 3.4% in Ireland and by 1.8% in Switzerland in the quarter. Meanwhile, like-for-like sales at the group’s 17 mature German stores rose by 3.2%.
Domino’s said the strong sales growth at its 725 UK stores was due in part to its Winter Survival Deal which was its most successful meal deal ever offered. The figures were also flattered by some weaker comparative in the early weeks of the same period last year when snow affected much of the country.
Never Miss a Retail Update!The proportion of online sales continued to grow in the quarter with 69.4% of all UK delivered sales coming via the internet compared to 61.9% in the previous year. Sales taken through all online platforms were up 25% to £103 million of which 34% were taken through mobile devices.
Domino’s chairman Stephen Hemsley said: “This is a pleasing set of results for the UK and ROI and we continue to implement our stated plans for Germany and Switzerland. The process for finding a new CEO is well advanced and the Board looks forward to updating the market in the near future.”
David Wild, interim chief executive, added: “We are pleased with the like-for-like performance in our core UK and ROI business. The pipeline and franchisee demand for new stores is healthy. Whilst we expect the number of sites opened in the year to be second half weighted, we remain confident in delivering our target of 40-50 new stores in 2014.
