Domino’s revenues up 14%; expands in Norway

Domino’s Pizza Group said revenues rose nearly 14 per cent last year as it continued to open new stores in the UK and upped its dividend for 2016.

The pizza group also said it had bought Norway’s third largest pizza group, Dolly Dimple’s, from Norges Gruppen for an enterprise value of £4m.

Revenues at the UK-listed franchise of US group Domino’s hit £360.6m last year, slightly softer than analysts expected but a 13.8 per cent rise on the previous year. Underlying profit before tax was slightly better than expected at £85.7m, a 17.1 per cent rise from 2015.

It shifted nearly 89m pizzas last year, 2.6m of which were Hawaiian pizzas.

The board recommended a final dividend of 8p per share – nearly 16 per cent higher than its 2015 payout.

The pace of growth in the UK slowed somewhat, with like-for-like sales up 7.5 per cent in 2016 compared with 11.7 per cent growth in 2015. But the company said it expected to open 80 new stores in the UK after opening 81 last year.

Stephen Hemsley, non-executive chairman, said:

We continue to deliver as one of the leading franchises across the Domino’s network worldwide and we are proud of our achievement as the number one pizza company in the UK and Republic of Ireland. We are in a strong position to build for the future.

In the UK and ROI, our success in 2016 is once again rooted in revenue-driven profit growth based on continued investment in e-commerce initiatives and record levels of new store openings, underpinned by strong franchisee profitability.

The Group’s business model continues to be highly cash generative and will allow us to invest in the future growth strategy of the business, to invest in operating assets and to support the capital returns policy.

Image via Bloomberg