A slice of success for Domino’s: Share price up as sales increase yet again

Domino's will please more than its pizza fans today – investors will be encouraged by news of continued sales growth for the pizza delivery company. 

 

During the 13 weeks to 28 September, like-for-like sales went up by 12.9 per cent to £165.7m, representing the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit sales growth.

 

It is also an improvement from the equivalent period last year, when sales amounted to £140.9m. Share price went up by 1.84 per cent to £5.80 following the news.

 

In a statement released this morning, Domino's attributed its positive summer performance to a combination of improved economic conditions, continued emphasis on meal deal promotions and migration by customers to online ordering. 

 

70 per cent of delivered sales during the third quarter were the result of online purchases, up from 62.4 per cent in 2013. 

 

"We are delighted with the like-for-like performance in our core UK business and remain on track for our targeted new store opening programme,” said chief executive David Wild.

 

“We are building on our success on-line with the roll-out of our new website and a series of enhancements to continue to make it easy for our customers to order Domino's.”

 

The group is increasing the number of its stores in the UK – it opened 13 new stores during the third quarter and is set to open a further 40-50 stores before the end of 2014. 

 

However, outside the UK performance has not been so promising. In Germany, like-for-like sales decreased by 9.9 per cent during the period, compared to a 9.4 per cent increase during the equivalent period in 2013. 

 

"Progress in Germany is slower than we would have liked, but we are committed to the execution of our strategy,” Wild added.

 

"We face more challenging comparatives for the final quarter, but we remain confident of a satisfactory outcome for the year and are planning to build on this success in 2015."