Domino’s Pizza Group sees upbeat full-year results

United Kingdom trading was “robust”, with like-for-like sales in the three months to 27 September up 14.9% to £200m.

Domino’s Pizza Group has hailed a “strong set of results” with total group sales up by nearly 20 per cent in the third quarter of its financial year. More than 75 percent of the pizzas delivered by the company this year have been ordered online, and more than half of those were placed through its smartphone app.

Shares in Domino’s shot up 14% at 1,017.00 pence following the announcement, the best performer in the FTSE 250 Wednesday morning.

The Sydney-listed company – which holds the master-franchise rights to the Domino’s brand in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France and the Netherlands – said the deal would also boost its earnings per share on a fiscal 2015 pro-forma basis by around 4 per cent.

The Republic of Ireland saw like-for-like sales growth of 14% to EUR13.8 million from EUR12.2 million where Domino’s said it is also seeing an increasing trend towards digital ordering and the benefits of an economic recovery.

The company, which operates over 800 outlets in the United Kingdom, said it was on track to open at least 50 stores during 2015.

It said it was working to improve the performance of these stores, but added there remains to lot of work to do.

Domino’s sales are looking tasty, as the pizza maker’s revenue jumped by double digits for the eighth consecutive quarter. “Our global businesses also continue to show encouraging signs of improvement”, Chief Executive David Wild said in a statement.

“We enter the final quarter of the year with good momentum, are confident of beating our previous expectations for the full year and remain excited about our longer term growth prospects”.

Analysts at Numis Securities forecast pre-tax profit rising 24 per cent over the full year, with United Kingdom like-for-like sales gaining 10.5 per cent. The brokerage has a “buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 1100p.